Phil Sandifer wrote:
I don't allow my students to cite Wikipedia, but I don't let them cite Britannica either. The reason isn't reliability, though - it's that encyclopedias aren't academic sources.
You've seen Alan Liu's guide to citing WIkipedia, right? (Liu is a big name humanities figure - highly respected writer on digital media) http://kairosnews.org/developing-a-wikipedia-research-policy
It's a good example of a commonsense citation policy, and should probably be taken as a model for us.
Well, it is a convenient way around the issue of determining whether Wikipedia is reliable or not. But it is besides the point. People DO use Wikipedia as their reliable source. And thanks for the link. If we need that kind of instructions for students before they can use Wikipedia as a potential source, it is quite clear how unreliable Wikipedia is.
Kim