Andrew J. Darcy
Reading #2
“Can Wikipedia Ever Make The Grade?”
By: Brock Read
10/27/06

This article consisted of an academic study and use of the ever so popular Wikipedia by Alexander M.C. Halavais. Wikipedia is an open-ended encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to, even if the information may even be wrong. To try and catch this error, they have hired editors that are constantly pillaging through the information to try to find some factuality in the statements that people are adding to the already humongous encyclopedia. He attempted to undermine the amateur editors by giving himself a false name and added thirteen errors to certain articles throughout the website. To his surprise, his false posts were rectified within three hours of the posting; additionally, he was later asked by their editing crew to quit adding such false statements in the future. Despite this quick fix by their editors, Wikipedia still stands up for great debate about the viability of using it in for an academic paper or any paper for that matter because of the ease of adding information to the website even without expertise on the certain subject matter that you are posting to. The credibility of Wikipedia was almost proven to be a viable option for information in a recent study because of how the facts for the most part lined up with that of Encyclopedia Britannica.

Wikipedia is currently straddling a fine line with getting respect when it comes to conveying credible information. However, this highly debated website will never find its place in an academic paper because people will always enjoying toying with the minds of others for the mere pleasure of proving how this website is flawed. Information through this website is great and makes for an easy way of knowledge acquisition. I feel though that it should be left for scholars to make additions to the website and not the “average Joe” because of the mere fact that one of Wikipedia’s editors may miss a fact that someone believes whole heartedly to be true. Even though it is almost up to par with Encyclopedia Britannica, it is not and should not be used when writing an academic paper. Technology has made this website a great site for some basic background of a general subject, but everyone should be aware that what they may be reading maybe has not been caught by one of Wikipedia’s amateur editors due to the fact of how many posts are made each day.