An article I found really interesting was Wikipedia: Unreliable Source, Useful Heuristic ToolWikipedia:%20Unreliable%20Source,%20Useful%20Heuristic%20Tool from the Society of Biblical Literature, a very well respected society of Biblical scholarship. It talks about Wikipedia as a possible eventual good way to get really excellent information (a form of Eventualismhttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Eventualismif you will) and that right now it's a good tool to use to find other sources, and to get some basic vocabulary.
I think this should be very encouraging to all those who have been slogging away finding tons of sources for their articles. Not only does it make people trust Wikipedia more, it also makes it a much more useful tool for people who are doing deeper research.
Makemi
On 1/16/07, MacGyverMagic/Mgm macgyvermagic@gmail.com wrote:
I think you covered the main points. I don't think it should be called a policy. All it really is, is an explanation. But that's just me.
Mgm
On 1/16/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
All,
I received a message (below) from a librarian at a US high school who is considering writing a policy for their students regarding the use of Wikipedia in research papers. She asked for my input and whether I knew
of
any similar policies in schools -- either middle and high schools or colleges and universities. This: http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/lists_archive/Humanist/v20/0080.html is the kind of thing she's interested in (this particular policy
appears,
by the way, to be completely sensible -- the main flaws I found were
they
missed the permanent link and citation features, and they called us "the world's blog").
I pointed her towards
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Schools_FAQ
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Researching_with_Wikipedia, and
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academic_use
which seem to be en:'s documentation on the subject of academic use. But I'm wondering if any of you:
- know of such policies at specific institutions (and if so if you can
send me a link)
- know of commentary on, or a list of, such policies (either from our
lists & sites or other places)
- have comments about such policies and what should go into them.
- if any of you are librarians or professors, if you have answers for
the
last question about how WP is handled at reference desks and in classes.
Thanks! phoebe (brassratgirl)
here's the message (with specific campus names taken out):
I am the head librarian at a college prep high school in California. We
are
considering writing a school policy regarding the use of Wikipedia in academic research. I am gathering as much information as I can from universities because I would like our policy and instruction to reflect
what
our students will be met with once they leave us.
Does the University of California have a policy about the use of
Wikipedia or do professors to
set guidelines for its use?
In your opinion, based on your experience at various universities,
are
students allowed to cite it in academic research papers?
Do professors address it at all and how is it handled at the
reference
desk at university libraries. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
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