2010/1/6 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
Having said that, I've just looked at the original document:
http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/files/2009-12-24-plagiarism-students.pdf
It actually does a pretty good job at giving advice on how to use Wikipedia. It's just the Telegraph that chose the choice quote and ignored the advice. ;-)
It even mentions the School's Wikipedia.
It does a very good job, IMO. To save other people time, here is the relevant section:
"Using Wikipedia as a starting point ‘The free encyclopedia [sic] that anyone can edit.’ (Wikipedia, 2009) Wikipedia can be an excellent starting point for research. However, unlike traditional encyclopaedias anyone can add information on any topic, even you! It may not necessarily be authoritative or accurate. In some cases information may be completely untrue. You must always check the facts in a wiki article ■ check the reference list for the article. ■ carry out further research to find the referenced articles. ■ use the history and discussion pages accompanying an entry to help evaluate whether you can trust the information. ■ you can find a pre-checked Wikipedia collection of 5,500 articles targeted around the national curriculum at http://schools-wikipedia.org. ■ never use Wikipedia as your only source."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
We should issue a statement supporting the Ofqual report and correcting the Telegraph article: