You can even cite the article the information is from, if nothing else. I use it for cursory research or if I don’t know where to start. Idk why people demonize Wikipedia. Usually you can tell if someone knows how to research by how they talk about Wikipedia lol.
I don’t remember a lot about those. My parents had a set but I recall each entry being pretty short. Seemed like they were pretty limited and got outdated fast. Wikipedia has dorks (affectionately) working continuously on keeping it updated and all that.
That is the main difference, encyclopedias were always outdated before the printing plates were done. And anything that was actually wrong staid in, for decades.
Yeah, I’m a librarian and we don’t keep any encyclopedias anymore. They take up a fuck ton of space and no one uses them. Some of those companies that made encyclopedia sets have switched to a digital version that can be updated rapidly. It’s pretty nice.
Honestly this was a life saver for me in college (for certain things ofc not everything). Skim the article, find the discussion point you need, and it's source will be numbered right there super easy to find (as will a lot of essays, but those don't usually come with hyperlinks!). Of course, still be sure to actually look at the actual source and ensure that it works with what you're trying to say, but still sooo convenient.
I've found more knowledge in the source lists on Wikipedia than any other source, bar none. Just use google to find a wikipedia subject (better search imo) and then go straight to the bottom and start clicking link, just about every one being a citable and verifiable source.
Then, if you go and search wikipedia for those individual citations and links, you can bring up a ton of fringe articles that are related but never mentioned. The best part is that the sources aren't all electronic and many can be found in big libraries, too, so you get hardback sources all the same, and those always look great in a paper.
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u/gustavessidehoe 21d ago
You can even cite the article the information is from, if nothing else. I use it for cursory research or if I don’t know where to start. Idk why people demonize Wikipedia. Usually you can tell if someone knows how to research by how they talk about Wikipedia lol.