Objectives

On completion of this activity, you will be able to:

• Understand how Wikipedia works
• Discuss the credibility and reliability of Wikipedia
• Devise strategies to help students use Wikipedia for their language projects or personal use.

About Wikipedia

As the Internet is overflowing with information and all kinds of resources, you have to remind yourself that “even the most credible online documents are often provisional and unstable” (Dudeney, Hockly and Pegrum, 2014: 23).

Wikipedia is an example of a source of information constantly in flux, widely used by all, yet criticised by many, and often banned from academic sources. Amy Bruckman (2011, cited in Dudeney, Hockly and Pegru; 2014: 22) points out that “a popular, high profile Wikipedia page is the most accurate reference that has ever been created in the history of the written word” because it has been checked and looked over by hundreds of editors. “On the other hand”, says Bruckman, “an article on an obscure topic may be relatively unreliable and any falsification or vandalism may go unnoticed for some time”. So should we use Wikipedia to source credible and reliable information? And if so, how should we use it?

But first, let’s look at what Wikipedia is and how it works.

What is Wikipedia and how does it work?

 

 

 

So, is Wikipedia a credible and reliable source?

 

 

How can we use Wikipedia to find credible and reliable information?

 

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