Why do people consider Wikipedia to be a credible source of information?
Supposedly Wikipedia continuously “self-corrects” itself because “experts” on each topic correct inaccuracies. That doesn’t always work, of course, and a lot of average folks don’t understand where Wikipedia really comes from; they just know it’s free and easy to use. A couple of years ago, the journal “Nature” did a study comparing it to Encyclopedia Britanica, and found it to be pretty darn accurate. (See link below) That being said, it is still not a “peer reviewed” journal in the sense that an editorial board oversses it and closes out entries; entries are always able to be edited. Many universities have started to ban Wikipedia as a primary source for research. (See second article below…) It can be a good place to START, as the better written articles have good bibliographic documentaion. But anyone who is a student at a public school or college or even citizen of a community where there is a good public library probably has free access to traditional online resources which are
