Is Wikipedia reliable?

[paul]

(08-25-2011 07:24 AM)C_Fresh Wrote:  When I was in college we weren't allowed to cite Wikipedia as a source in our papers. However, I often used it to find source material by using the article citations. I've found it to be a useful website for getting quick information on things.

This is what I've tried to explain to my kids. We haven't forbidden Wikipedia as a source yet (home school), but I did tell them they will likely only be able to use it to gather ideas and point to other source material when they are in college (or high school or whatever).

For a general, broad overview of most topics, it is fine. To use it as a definitive source of specific items within a topic or for obscure topics is a far cry from legitimate research.