Given the recent hubub about Universities banning Wikipedia, I thought I would share my own class policy -- not approved by my department or university in any way. You can also comment on it here:
http://reagle.org/joseph/blog/career/teaching/citing-wikipedia?showcomments=...
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Subject: Bibliography and Wikipedia Date: Thursday 01 February 2007 11:20 From: Joseph Reagle To: "Impacts"
Hello everyone, I'll speak more about this in the coming week or so.
[[ http://reagle.org/joseph/2007/impacts/bp-bibliography.html
Like most professional practice, bibliography can and should be a sensible thing. It shouldn't be a technicality or hassle, but integral to your work in leading the reader through your scholarly context and sources. This is why I provide you with the course readings formatted (so you could copy and paste) and structured (so you can import it into a tool like RefWorks). Unfortunately, bibliography is often presented to students as a series of technical hurdles without much thought given to the role it performs. Listing ones sources can perform at least one the following functions: a citation identifies the subject of a claim, it substantiates a claim, or it identifies an influence. For example, consider the following three sentences: 1. Lanier (2006) believes Wikipedia is a form of online collectivism. 2. Because science related articles on Wikipedia are roughly as accurate as Britannica (Giles 2005) they should be recommended as a reference work. 3. The notion of an Internet encyclopedia dates back to 1993 (Wikipedia 2006i; Wilson and Reynard1994 ).
In the first example, the reference is the subject of the sentence, that is all. In the second sentence I am incorporating an external authoritative claim into the body of a (hypothetical) argument. In the third example, I am documenting the influence of Wikipedia (so as not to plagiarize) and substantiating the claim via an external authority (a primary source).
In other classes, you might be restricted from using reference works, including the Wikipedia. Instructors might be concerned that Wikipedia is not authoritative or reliable. You certainly have to respect the policies of other instructors, but I want you to ask in this class: what, then, is authoritative? There are many books and articles as likely, or more so, to contain nonsense as an encyclopedia. Instead of simply excluding a genre of work, we need to be media literate; this is an important skill to develop as a scholar and citizen. Furthermore, I believe to forbid the citation of a reference work contributes to a form of dishonesty posing as pretense. (How does the person who only reads original sources find those sources?) Finally, some worry that web pages can change and be touched by many. Indeed, this is a great opportunity to appreciate that all knowledge is a reflection of a society and its time.
Instead of barring citations of reference works I have a simple alternative. Unless vetted by an instructor (e.g., as part of the syllabus) a reference article should never be cited alone. As I often say, a Wikipedia article is only as reliable as its sources, and those should be consulted, carefully considered, and cited in addition to Wikipedia. Reference to Web resources should include the date of access and the specific version consulted, which Wikipedia articles' provide via the "permanent link" in the left sidebar.
For your midterm assignment on "Failed Predictions" you are required to engage a Wikipedia article as the subject of your analysis. You should also consider the provenance (source) of the prediction and substantiate your analysis with authoritative sources from the syllabus and beyond. All of these should be noted in your bibliography.
Works Cited
Giles, J. (2005). Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Nature. Retrieved on December 15, 2005 from < http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051212/full/438900a.html >
Lanier, J. (2006). The hazards of the new online collectivism. Edge. Retrieved on June 07, 2006 17:18 UTC from < http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge183.html >
Wikipedia (2006i). Interpedia. Wikimedia. Retrieved on October 20, 2006 17:14 UTC from < http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Interpedia&oldid=73394880 >
Wilson, D. and Reynard, A. M. (1994). Interpedia frequently asked questions and answers. Retrieved on October 27, 2005 from < http://groups.google.de/groups?selm=CL9x0u.B4x%40acsu.buffalo.edu&outp ut=gplain >
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