Many lecturers/tutors will tell you never to cite Wikipedia. Why do you think this is? How can you use Wikipedia effectively?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer is While Wikipedia may be more accurate than often supposed, most entries can be edited by anyone, including those who may be biased, uninformed, misguided, or even malicious. A sound, accurate entry can in theory change quickly to a gravely erroneous one and if the topic is arcane, might stay wrong for a protracted period until a competent editor corrects it. To use Wikipedia effectively:
-Do not cite it; instead, use it to get an overview of the subject and to find potentially more reliable sources.
-Check the page ratings at the bottom of the entry, taking note of the number of ratings as well as the scores, but remember that these are also potentially open to bias.
-Check the 'Talk' and 'View history' pages. Treat with caution any entries that have little discussion and few edits.
-Remember that Wikipedia entries can change very quickly; for topical subjects (e.g. financial crises), information present in the morning might have been removed or changed substantially by evening. If you are allowed to cite Wikipedia entries, always include the exact date of retrieval (and perhaps even the time); better still, check and refer to the sources the entry cites.

Many Lecturers/tutors Will Tell You Never to Cite Wikipedia