Response to using Wikipedia for Academic Research

Throughout college professors have always said not to use Wikipedia for research.  I liked how this video discussed the fact that it's typically the first link that shows up when using a search engine.  It also identified that Wikipedia typically can't be used as a source but may be a good place to start with your findings. It can be used to give you ideas on key ideas to research and brainstorm ideas.

Since I have always been told to stay away from Wikipedia as a source, I tried not to use it at all.  This video however gave me some great ideas as to how to use Wikipedia to “aide you in your research process”.  Also, it suggests viewing the sources at the bottom of Wikipedia which may lead to academic articles in which can be used to further research.

Perhaps always telling students to “not use Wikipedia period” is not a good approach.  Maybe educators should teach students how to use Wikipedia as a tool, not a source for research.  Students are confused whenever they do a search on Google and the first thing that comes up is Wikipedia but the teachers said they can’t use it.  I have witnessed this first hand and have always told students it’s not a valid scholarly source.  Instead describing to students what Wikipedia is and how content is shared would be a much better approach.  Students would then still be able to use Wikipedia as an instrument just not a resource to take content from in their finding.