Wikipedia- used by many

Wikipedia is a very well known website that is used by thousands of people (especially students) every single day. Many people use it in order to obtain information about things. Some people, think that is all that Wikipedia is- an online Encyclopaedia. However, this is not the case. It is also used by some, sort of like a social network. They earn 'Barnstars' to show how well they have contributed to editing Wikipedia.

Can we trust Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is used by so many people around the world in order to gather information, however, is it trustworthy? The answer is no, not really. Most Wikipedia pages can be edited by anyone. Some popular pages are constantly guarded in order to make sure no incorrect information is put online. So why do we use it?  Well, it is a free website to take information from. Please see back to the open access blogpost, here. This gives it an easy advantage for students, and other people, to use it, even though it might not be accurate.

Old habits are hard to kick, and if you can't stop using it, the best possible solution to ensuring you obtain accurate information from Wikipedia is to check it out elsewhere. Make sure other websites/books say the same thing.  

http://www.wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Barnstars