Citing Wikipedia as a Source? Don’t Do It.
No. Not a good idea. Nope. Just no.
Right, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me tell you how you CAN use Wikipedia when researching a paper, project or presentation.
Encyclopedias of one type or another have been relied upon for general information since at least the ancient world. From Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia from the 1st century CE, to Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Razi’s encyclopedia of science from the 10th century CE, to the 28,000 folio volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia completed in China in 1408 CE, to the monumental French Encyclopédie published between 1751-1772 CE, to the encyclopedias of the 20th century CE like Britannica and World Book, repositories of general knowledge have been required as humans strive for understanding of the world.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits and challenges of studying history, you can read more blog post on the topic here!
Now those of us of a certain age will remember the time before internet search engines, where we were taught that a starting point for our research paper was our school or local library’s encyclopedia collection. There we could find general information about our topics of choice, and then we would take that new knowledge to the card catalog or librarian to start looking for books on our topics. Now I clearly remember teachers explicitly telling me and my fellow students “Do not use the encyclopedia as one of your sources!” when we visited the school library to find sources for our papers. This, in my mind, echoes the teachers of today who frequently tell their students “Do not use Wikipedia as one of your sources!”. The difference though, as mentioned earlier, is that the teachers of my childhood would recommend we start with encyclopedias, especially when we knew little or nothing about our chosen topics. People today seem to automatically dismiss the usefulness of Wikipedia though, which I find short sighted. Of course a student should not cite Wikipedia, just like the students of the past were not allowed to cite print encyclopedias.
Using Sources
Wikipedia is today’s go-to encyclopedia. Like its print predecessors, it has flaws and biases. For example, it still lacks representation of women editors and notable female figures. But these issues don’t make it useless; every source carries bias. The key is helping students recognize and evaluate those biases rather than avoid them.
In AP History and other humanities classes, students learn to question their sources:
- Who is the author and audience?
- What’s the author’s purpose or background?
- What might be missing or exaggerated?
These questions teach students to use imperfect sources effectively instead of dismissing them. The same approach applies to research tools like Wikipedia—students should examine them critically, not ignore them.
Wikipedia is a great starting point for research.It helps students identify key search terms, events, and figures before diving into academic databases.The references at the bottom of each article can also point students toward credible scholars and primary sources.
If you’d like to learn more about how our humanities tutors work with students to develop core academic skills in a customized, 1-on-1 environment, please give us a call.
