Everything English

Wikipedia is a good way to quickly learn a lot about a certain topic, right? So why do teachers tell you that you can’t use it as a source when you are writing a paper? Well, anyone can go onto Wikipedia and write or edit an article; for example, I’m not an expert on sharks, but if I have an account with Wikipedia, I can make some changes to the article on sharks. Instead, most teachers want you to use well-researched and well-edited documents written by experts, or those who have spent years researching a certain topic. However, on most Wikipedia articles, you’ll see a list of citations at the very end of the article. These citations mostly come from “experts,” so you can certainly take a look at these other books and articles to see if they are reliable enough to use in your paper. If you are ever doubt whether a source is “reliable” or not, just ask your teacher. Basically, Wikipedia is not 100% reliable, but it can certainly lead you to some other great sources…