IN LAST week's column, I talked about the utility of Wikipedia as an encyclopedic resource and its general benefits for society. I echo these sentiments for a University environment as well. While Wikipedia should not be used as a reference for a paper, it has several other virtues that students can and should profit from. To gain better insight into this issue, I conducted an informal experiment with some University professors that asked them to evaluate several articles in their field of expertise.
The experiment was administered to three faculty members: Physics Prof. Robert Jones, Philosophy Prof. Paul Humphreys, and History Prof. Monica Black. They were each given three articles in their field of expertise and were instructed to evaluate the articles from a rating of one (lowest) to 10 (highest) in two criteria: factual accuracy and comprehensiveness and general impression. They were also asked to state how and why the exercise impacted their perceptions of Wikipedia, if it did at all.
Overall, the professors gave the articles an average rating of 7.7 for factual accuracy and 6.4 for comprehensiveness and general impression. Their lower marks for the latter criterion reflect long-standing criticisms of Wikipedia that, unlike a more established source like Britannica, the database's articles have poor standardization and can vary widely in quality. The professors were generally consistent in how they scored the articles on factual accuracy; no article received a score lower than six and most individual scores hovered around the average very regularly. The highest score an article received for factual accuracy was a nine.
The exercise did not greatly impact the perceptions of Wikipedia that these professors held. Many of their comments revealed concerns about Wikipedia's reliability. One professor wrote, "as a starting point to gain general information about a subject it is fine," but went on to claim that "one should not expect it to be totally accurate or comprehensive" because it was not professionally reviewed. Another professor remained "cautiously supportive" of Wikipedia's role in providing free knowledge while warning that its coverage of certain topics may be too parochial and restricted. Despite highlighting many problems, however, some of the professors admitted they used Wikipedia. Although one professor was worried about an online tendency to "transmit factual errors," Wikipedia did appear to be "quite useful for many things." Another wrote that "I like Wikipedia and use it occasionally to get a quick second opinion on something I believe to be the case."
What lessons can we, particularly students, draw from this exercise? The main implication is clear: Do not use a Wikipedia article as a reference for a college paper. At this level in our academic careers we should have enough intellectual maturity to realize what an appropriate source is and what it is not. That the professors generally gave the articles low scores on comprehensiveness indicates that articles may normally omit information relevant to a particular topic that you are studying and researching.
The assessments the professors gave, however, generally identified several positive aspects. Using Wikipedia as a gateway for further inquiry was a common theme. A normal Wikipedia article about any topic will have large amounts of built-in wordlinks to other related subjects. In this way, it is possible to become sucked in and finding yourself reading article after article. Besides keeping you up late at night, this will also offer a number of great perspectives on a research topic. There are other helpful features on Wikipedia for students. Have a question about a math or science homework problem? As long as your homework is not pledged or covered by the honor code, take it to the Wikipedia Reference desk, a collection of topic-specific categories (like history or science) where established Wikipedia editors either refer newcomers to material that might answer a question or actually show you how to get an answer if enough work has been put in beforehand.
Wikipedia is a phenomenal tool with many pitfalls and benefits. As the University professors realized, it does not have the academic rigor of other sources that students should be using. It still has, however, enough potential to make it one of the first destinations for your research paper.
Erald Kolasi is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint writer.
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