CCC Libraries Wikipedia Essentials

Wikipedia requires that articles are supported by "reliable, published sources."

What is a published reliable source?

• The work itself, such as a book or article
• Can be a book, audio, video or media material as long as broadcast, distributed by a reputable source 
• The date of the source is especially important in the sciences and in academic subjects

If you can't find reliable published sources on a topic you should not create an article. Wikipedia has extensive guidelines on the criteria for reliable sources. Some examples:

• Scholarly articles such as research papers with secondary sources
• Secondary sources are those that discuss or analyze information presented elsewhere. Examples are articles, books, and textbooks, 
• Newspaper articles from well known sources
• Sources should be free of bias. Be careful of "questionable sources"

Is Wikipedia a Good Source?

"It depends." While Wikipedia articles are NOT appropriate sources to cite in college level work, they can be a good starting point for other sources of information. 

Wikipedia is a collaborative effort, and anyone can edit. Because of this, the nature of the articles can change at any time. The quality of articles varies from excellent to poor. Use a few of these tips to evaluate Wikipedia articles.

• How many editors have contributed to the article? 
• Does the article appear controversial?
• Check the article's creation date
• Is the article's topic well explained?

See more tips for evaluation HERE