Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that can be edited by absolutely anyone. It also happens to usually be the first source that comes up with an answer for your online searches, especially when using Google. This says nothing negative about Google; I am a HUGE fan of Google and I Google something everyday! But the fact that anyone can go on to Wikipedia and write anything they chose under a certain topic makes me feel that it can not be a trusted source at all. On the other hand there are usually links going back to the original source where the information came from to back up the facts. If you can follow the links that are usually provided and prove the information on the site is in fact true, than I think Wikipedia is a great source. But I personally think that takes a lot of extra time.
Things are improving for Wikipedia though! There is now a program called WIRE/ Wikipedia scanner that locates anonymous internet IP addresses so that the source of the person who edited the post can be known. I do think that with careful surveillance of the Wikipedia website and scanning of the entries Wikipedia is can be an excellent source.
So what do you use instead of Wikipedia?
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