Wikipédia, une source documentaire valable?

julesm
julesm

le 2014-12-01 à 20:41

What are the pros and cons about wikipedia?
Pros:
- Wikipedia is a site that is used by millions. The site is translated in many languages which makes it easy for anyone to understand. There is a page for almost everything you look up. Example: people, inventions, countries etc... When you look up something, it is usually right. This is a good site if you are curious about something, because you get your answer easily and you don't have to wonder all over the web for hours.
Cons:
- Wikipedia is a dangerous source in the meantime because anyone can edit anything. The site can be edited by amateurs which means that the facts can be wrong or not precise. It means you have to double check the facts with another source before you can use them. Because so many people use this website, the student of a same class might end up with a similar report. So it is always better to use diverse sources to obtain a more individual result.
Himmel
Himmel

le 2014-12-01 à 21:16

Wikipedia is a child of the internet. At the beginning, Wikipedia was a side project of an English encyclopedia site called Nupedia. It's articles were written by experts and reviewed intensively. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger decided to create an encyclopedia which can be edited by the users. This idea in itself captures the fundamentals of the internet, "accessible to all". Being accessible to all is what makes Wikipedia so amazing, this is a truly democratic process compared to the past systems which controlled information and knowledge according to the opinion of a few. But it's openness is also it's greatest flaw. The openness allows, in theory, that mistakes will appear in the information given to you. But this is only the case with newly created articles, in time a multitude of users add information and correct the mistakes. This can create a bulk of unnecessary information that can shroud the main content.


In my opinion, too much information is better than too little.
Your Future Emporer
DHOlivier
DHOlivier

le 2014-12-01 à 21:34

What makes Wikipedia so unique is the fact that thousands of people are contributing their knowledge to help document almost everything known to man. The more people write and share the more people know and understand. We can only benefit from people adding what they know. This is Wikipedia’s strength, not it’s weakness.

Wikipedia is often criticized for being open to editing by anyone. This is not true, some articles are completely closed to editing for anyone except the "administrators", others are "semi-protected" meaning that only someone with an account can edit an article and yes, some are completely open to editing.

In many ways Wikipedia is a reliable source; there are many experts who enjoy writing articles however, some people who find it funny to edit someone’s work just for fun. So checking the information online as well as viewing the sources used by the author(s) at the bottom of the article is necessary while using Wikipedia or any other online page. Things like dates and events should definitively be checked.
ZacharieD
ZacharieD

le 2014-12-02 à 17:19

I think that Wikipedia is a good website depending on what you search for. It is good for bases or simple presentations on simple subjects. What is good is that it is simple to find, and you can translate pages to over 200 languages. It is true that anybody with an account can modify a page or add an information that is not true, but that information will be removed shortly after. If you are looking for in depths information and dates it is much better if you go to another website. Saying that anyone can write an article is false, Since no one that does not know what they are talking about will write an article. And the people that do write the articles are interested in the subject, will do a lot of research and are only trying to help you. If you want to do a presentation on pirates very generally, wikipedia is a great website for that, but if you want to talk about a very rare or specific religious group or movement, you will need many other websites. I use wikipedia a lot, to find out about people, events...
CarsunH
CarsunH

le 2014-12-02 à 18:12

[center]Pros and Cons of Wikipedia being a reliable source[center]

I think that Wikipedia is both reliable and unreliable. It has lots of interesting facts about things you might not know and has words that are underlined and highlighted in blue, and when you click on them, it can lead you to more information about a specific word or phrase. It can also mislead you because anybody can make a Wikipedia account and can write false things about what you were looking up.
Overall Wikipedia is a site that you have to be smart with and not fully trust it, but look on other sites to make sure that what is on there is true.
TristanB
TristanB

le 2014-12-02 à 19:58

Wikipedia is like an encyclopedia but online, and what Wikipedia has that an encyclopedia doesn't have is that people can change and edit the information. To be on the safe side the information that is on Wikipedia should always be supported, you never know when it is true or false.
In conclusion Wikipedia is good to use when you have no idea on the subject you are searching up, because it gives you a simple explanation of the subject on the top of the page, and goes more into the detail after the brief explanation. Wikipedia is a reliable site that can be trusted but you should always check and be sure the information is true and not false.
AlleyMA
AlleyMA

le 2014-12-02 à 20:04

As most of you know Wikipedia is a site that most people use to get imforation in general from. Students are known to use Wikipedia in projects more than any other source, and teachers seem to beleive that imformation on this site can sometimes not be accurate. They beleive this because anyone can have a Wikipedia account but what most people don't know is that when you submit an aticle to Wikipedia it goes to a couple different experts to verify that your imformation is true and if they find a mistake they will not publish your work; I only know this because my father wrote an article and it took 6 months for it to be published because they weren't sure if the imformation was authentic. As long as Wikipedia is not your only source I beleive that it is 100% ok to use.
MarieS
MarieS

le 2014-12-02 à 20:34

Why is and isn't Wikipedia a reliable web source for school projects, essays, and assignment? The list is relativley short.

Pros:
Wikipedia has a huge variety of topics. You can find a page on anything from ostriches, to baseball, to World War II. It also has very detailed information, that way you can be looking for the answer to one question, and end up answering more. Wikipedia is probably the most used website by students, because it is the first to appear after you type your subject into the search bar.

Cons:
While Wikipedia has many different subjects and tons of information on each, sometimes it has too much information, and you have to go though tons and tons of pages, searching for that one peice of information that half your PowerPoint is based on, and many times it's a part of a paragraph that has barely any relation to the name of the general you were hoping to find. There is also a debate on wether or not people can write on Wikipedia and modify the articles. I, personally, have tried this, and needed no account to change what I wanted to. It is also rumored that the Wikipedia editors go through all the edits, and make sure that the information is brought back to normal, but come on. Though I'm sure this is true, how many articles are there on Wikipedia, really? How long will it take to go over every single word? That being said, not all the information is false.

In conclusion, I suggest scanning through this website to earn a general understanding. Once through with that, try and pick out all of the info needed for your project/essay/assignment. Then write it down, and compare it to other, more reliable, "scholar friendly" websites, books even. Be sure to not only use Wikipedia as a sole source.
lucastartaglia
lucastartaglia

le 2014-12-02 à 20:45

Wikipedia is a website used to find information on many subnets.

There are many things to know about when using Wikipedia

First off anyone can make an account for free and edit things and create new pages. But Wikipedia has an automated bot that will, in 24 hours longest, take off information that is fake or just a joke.
When using Wikipedia you should always make sure the information you find is true on other websites.

The pros of Wikipedia are that it is full of all kinds of information on all kinds of subjects. It is also very easy to use. The cons are that anyone can put anything they want on it.

Overall I think that Wikipedia is a great web site with a ton of information, but it has one major flaw that you have to watch out for.

Lucas Tartaglia

8B
larah
larah

le 2014-12-02 à 21:26

Despite what everyone tells me about wikipedia having unreliable info, I always use it for assignments and so far I haven't had any issues. I like wikipedia alot just because it can give you general as well as precise information and they have a page for almost everything. The only thing I would say that's inconvinient about wikipedia is that sometimes there is a lot of writing and it can take a while to find the part I'm looking for. Overall I think wikipedia is great and very helpfull.
sophiagouda
sophiagouda

le 2014-12-03 à 10:21

The advantages of the website Wikipedia are that almost everybody uses it. Anything you search will probably pop up on wikipedia. It's organized and easy to find information. Some words that have a difficulty in knowing what it is are highlighted and if clicked on will lead to a definition.

The disadvantages are that it can be modified. Under each paragraph there is a button where of clicked on, anyone can modify the paragraph. There may be bad information and may be false.
MaxLahoud
MaxLahoud

le 2014-12-03 à 14:37

Je pense que Wikipedia est une source reliable quand c'est pour faire des petites recherches (Ex: date de naissance de Pablo Picasso) Mais si nous voulons faire des recherches approfondies sur un évènement important ou sur une personne, ce ne serait pas la source la plus recommendée. Car ça augmente votre risque d'avoir des informations fausses dans votre dossier de recherche. Pourquoi? Car les informations de Wikipedia peuvent être modifiées par n'importe qui. Certe les inforamations sont vérifiées, mais elles sont pas vérifiées au détail le plus précis. Quand on fait un PowerPoint et que nous avons besoin d'une simple date ou location, Wikipedia peut être utilisé, mais quand c'est pour rechercher toute l'histoire d'un évènement avec toutes les spécifications, il y a des informations qui pourront être fausses.Wikipedia est une source simple et utile qui peut être decrite comme une sorte de raccourci pour des informations simple, mais ce n'est pas la source la plus "reliable".
-Max Lahoud 8A
Jack
Jack

le 2014-12-03 à 17:42

I believe that Wikipedia can indeed be reliable source when you need to make a very quick essay or presentation on a certain subject, but it isn't very reliable when you are searching for specific information. For example, I someone were to do a powerpoint on the American Revolution, they should first go to Wikipedia for a general idea on what it is, then go to a different site to verify the information they found on Wikipedia, and also look for more specific information on the site, such as if you were to search for the Battle of New York, the student would already know a general idea about the subject, and know the specific necessary facts in it that you can't always find on Wikipedia
-Jack Gil 8A
ClaraS
ClaraS

le 2014-12-03 à 19:30

I think that Wikipedia can be a reliable source at times. But it also can not be for these particular reasons:
1) Anyone can write what they want.
2) You wont know if the information given is correct
3) Most of the time its very confusing and long reading Wikipedia
4) And I personally think that it simply is not meant for children.
But at the same time it could be useful because they'll give you images that are well explained on the website so you can just copy the image and explain what the image means in your own words.
So my advice would be when you are using Wikipedia make sure that the information you read is accurate because you wouldn't want to get a bad grade because you were researching information that wasn't true. So my conclusion would be to trust other website like the ones with:
1) correct spelling
2) authors name
3) and maybe a little about the author as well
Or maybe even books would be better to use thats if they're interestin
ClaraS
ClaraS

le 2014-12-03 à 19:57

I think that Wikipedia is a great source at times but is not always the best way to find your information as well. Sure you can find information about practically anything and everything you search but most of the time it isn't accurate.
These are some of the reasons why I think Wikipedia shouldn't be used:
1) Anyone can write information down
2) You dont if the information given is accurate
3) And when information is written anyone can change what was written
4) The website is very long and it gets boring after a certain time of reading all the information
5) And finally I don't think that it is meant for children
But the one think Wikipedia is good for is the images that they put on the website it makes it easier to understand what the image means and gives us an opportunity to explain the piece in our own words.
Some advice would be: if your going to use a reliable website use one with the following information:
1) correct spelling
2) Authors name
3) and possibly even a small biography of the author
So my conclusion is Wikipedia is ok but maybe a book or an official website might be a bit better.
HadrienC
HadrienC

le 2014-12-03 à 21:02

Wikipédia est le site internet que tout le monde utilise dès qu'ils veulent savoir quelque chose. C'est très pratique, et des que tu cherche quelque chose sur le web Wikipedia est souvent la première page qui va apparaître. Mais, comme tout il a ses avantages et ses inconvénients. Les avantages sont que tu peux presque tout trouver. Il n'y a qu'à chercher dans Wikipedia et tu trouveras. Il y a des explication détaillées et au début on peut voir un tableau avec beaucoup de dates et de personnes en lien avec la chose. Quasiment toutes les informations sont présentes et tout est mis à jour très rapidement. Les inconvénients sont que tout le monde peut écrire ce qu'ils veulent dessus. Les articles sont souvent écrit par des pros qui connaissent parfaitement le sujet mais on ne peut jamais être sûre que ce qu'on lit est vrai. Il faut regarder autre part pour vérifier les informations sur Wikipedia. Si tu ne connaît rien sur un sujet Wikipedia est un bon site pour se familiariser avec mais pour faire un projet dessus il faut faire des recherches plus en profondeur sur d'autres sites ou tu est sûre de trouver des informations vrais et précises.
TallulahB
TallulahB

le 2014-12-03 à 22:51

Wikipedia usually has a lot of information about what you're looking for. The in formation is organized in different paragraphs. Wikipedia also has pictures on it. Some words are highlighted and those words have their own page.
Some of the things on Wikipedia can be misleading so it's best to double check on other sites. Anyone can write information so not all of it's correct. If you only use Wikipedia you would probably miss a lot of important information.
EmilyT
EmilyT

le 2014-12-03 à 23:10

Wikipedia, like all things, is not perfect. It has a long list of advantages and disadvantages. And of course, it also depends on the person; some find Wikipedia to be a lifesaver when it comes to learning information, while others believe that it is made up of stolen facts taken from their original sites and mixed with added false information here and there. Well, here's my opinion...

Since it's date of creation, January 15th 2001, Wikipedia has immensely expanded. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, its creators, coined its named, a portmanteau of wiki (the Hawaiian word for "quick") and the "pedia" from "encyclopedia". Originally only written in English, it has since been translated into 278 languages (out of approximately 4,500 spoken commonly worldwide). It may still have a way to go, but with time, Wikipedia could become universal!!

Wikipedia's success in terms of diversity in access wasn't without reason; this free encycopedia hosts more than 4.5 million pages! You can type in literally anything, and it will give you information on whatever it is. In fact, there's even a page on Wikipedia called "Critism of Wikipedia", talking about all the bad reviews given to Wikipedia. Personally, I find that kind of ironic...

Circumstancially, Wikipedia is immensely popular, ranking 6th in the list of most popular websites; it has more than 22 million accounts! And the best part is, almost all of the owners of these accounts are capable of editing information!! ...Now stop. If you're thinking that that is a good thing, you're wrong. Do you really think you can trust all those people? No, of course not. At some point, somebody or other is going to add some fact that is partially if not completely false, or else one that is more of an opinion than a fact. That's just the way things are.

So, in the end, is Wikipedia really a reliable and fullproof source, worthy of being used in the projects that we do everyday in our 8th grade classes? Yes and no. If you're absolutely clueless and you want to have a general idea of what your project is on, the brief paragraph at the top of any Wikipedia page is the place to look. But when you need more in-depth research, more interesting information, and most importantly, more reliability, you should always visit at least one other site, particularly one that is privately owned and whose author is written down.
EmilyT
EmilyT

le 2014-12-03 à 23:14

Wikipedia, like all things, is not perfect. It has a long list of advantages and disadvantages. And of course, it also depends on the person; some find Wikipedia to be a lifesaver when it comes to learning information, while others believe that it is made up of stolen facts taken from their original sites and mixed with added false information here and there. Well, here's my opinion...

Since it's date of creation, January 15th 2001, Wikipedia has immensely expanded. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, its creators, coined its named, a portmanteau of of wiki (the Hawaiian word for "quick") and the "pedia" from "encyclopedia". Originally only written in English, it has since been translated into 278 languages (out of approximately 4,500 spoken commonly worldwide). It may still have a way to go, but with time, Wikipedia could become universal!!

Wikipedia's success in terms of diversity in access wasn't without reason; this free encycopedia hosts more than 4.5 million pages! You can type in literally anything, and it will give you information on whatever it is. In fact, there's even a page on Wikipedia called "Critism of Wikipedia", talking about all the bad reviews given to Wikipedia. Personally, I find that kind of ironic...

Circumstancially, Wikipedia is immensely popular, ranking 6th in the list of most popular websites; it has more than 22 million accounts! And the best part is, almost all of the owners of these accounts are capable of editing information!! ...Now stop. If you're thinking that that is a good thing, you're wrong. Do you really think you can trust all those people? No, of course not. At one point, somebody or other is going to add some fact that is partially if not completely false, or else one that is more of an opinion than a fact. That's just the way things are.

So, in the end, is Wikipedia really a reliable and fullproof source, worthy of being used in the projects that we do everyday in our 8th grade classes? Yes and no. If you're absolutely clueless and you want to have a general idea of what your project is on, the brief paragraph at the top of any Wikipedia page is the place to look. But when you need more in-depth research, more interesting information, and most importantly, more reliability, you should always visit at least one other site, particularly one that is privately owned and whose author is written down.
MaraH
MaraH

le 2014-12-04 à 10:21

I think Wikipedia can be a reliable source, but not all the time. Anybody can post something on Wikipedia and it is not always verified. That means you can be falsly instructed and you could lose points on your project or research. A lot of people who post stuff on Wikipedia are giving their opinion and are being subjective not objective. On the other hand Wikipedia can be very helpful on global topics, such as countries. A lot of the information found on Wikipedia is true and is verified.
I guess using Wikipedia can be a risk.I personally use it a lot, for things like biographies, but I wouldn't rely on it entirely
noef
noef

le 2014-12-04 à 10:21

Je pense que Wikipedia est une source tres peu fiable. Cela peu etre utile pour des renseignement vague mais n'est pas suffisant. Lorseque l'on fait un power-point, Wikipedia ne DOIT PAS etre le seul source. Je pense qu'il faut au moins un livre, trois sites dont wikipedia et non pas seulement l'encyclopedie online. Apres, si l'on parle d'un sujet plutot connu, le document sera surment verifie et sera donc possiblement fiable. Par exemple, l'esclavagisme est un terme tres vague mais est tres bien defini sur wikipedia; il a surement ete verifie.
Heliotabaillon
Heliotabaillon

le 2014-12-04 à 17:32

Je pense que wikipedia est une source fiable mais il faut toujours faire attention a des personnes qui voudrait modifier de l'information verifie. Heureusement, il y a 500 membres qui travaillent a Wikipedia dedie a rendre le site meilleure. Avant, Wikipedia etait une source peu reliable et publique a la modification, mais maintenant des gens dedicacent leurs vies pour rendre ce site internet meilleu. Alors je pense que avant Wikipedia etait mauvais, mais maintenat c'est acceptable et fiable. Mais il ne faut quand meme pas base tout le projet sur cette seul source.
ZaneCruz
ZaneCruz

le 2014-12-04 à 22:29

Wikipedia is a good source it has about 500 staff and even though anyone can edit it the staff correct any errors. It is good it has many links. It tells you vital information and has important facts. It is also written in many languages.The downside is false information can be written it is correct though so like it makes up for it and it has real imformation.
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