[WikiEN-l] Student Bibliography and Wikipedia

[Joseph Reagle]

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=yes

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

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 >

]]



-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Regards,          http://www.mit.edu/~reagle/
Joseph Reagle     E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65  BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E