Evaluating Sources and Identifying Fake News

Wikipedia (/ˌwɪkɪˈpiːdiə/ (listen) wik-ih-PEE-dee-ə or /ˌwɪki-/ (listen) wik-ee-) is a free content, multilingual online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers through a model of open collaboration, using a wiki-based editing system. Individual contributors, also called editors, are known as Wikipedians. It is the largest and most-read reference work in history,^[3] and consistently one of the 15 most popular websites ranked by Alexa; as of 2021, Wikipedia was ranked the 13th most popular site.^[3][4] A visitor spends an average time on Wikipedia of 3 minutes and 45   seconds each day.^[5] It carries no advertisements and is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation,.  (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).  

WHY use Wikipedia?

• It is a great tool for a summary of a topic. Wikipedia content is constantly revised, and entries vary in quality. Some of the content is excellent, some is very questionable.
• Being web-based and having a very large number of active writers and editors, it provides fast coverage of many topics and provides hyperlinking, unavailable in traditional media.
• Thorough and comprehensive articles about newsworthy events within days of their occurrence.

• use Wikipedia to become familiar with a topic or as a starting point for research
• use Wikipedia to find more search terms or keywords for your research topic
• maintain a level of skepticism when reading Wikipedia articles

• assume that Wikipedia articles will count as sources in your bibliography for assignments or papers
• treat information on Wikipedia as facts, especially when concerning legal or medical advice. Verify everything!

Wikipedia is guided by the following principles, referred to as the Five Pillars:

1. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, which means it merely repeats information from other sources.
2. Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view.
3. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute.
4. Editors should interact with each other in a respectable and civil manner.
5. Wikipedia does not have firm rules.