I love using Wikipedia as a source, I just never cite it. Wikipedia is great for getting all kinds of useful information, and plenty of links to information that delves deeper into your topic. Professors, however, hate it. Their bias began in the late-90s when Wikipedia was still full of inaccuracies and falsehoods, and although the site has gotten a lot better, this bias will probably remain throughout the academic community for some time to come, if not forever. That makes using Wikipedia for academic writing problematic at best, and impossible at worst.
That doesn’t mean that you need to steer clear of this great resource, however. Don’t forget that if you scroll down to the bottom of whatever page you’re looking at, you’ll find all kinds of sources. You can often trace these sources back to where they came from, or just cite them in your paper directly when you choose to use Wikipedia as an academic writing source.
That doesn’t mean that you need to steer clear of this great resource, however. Don’t forget that if you scroll down to the bottom of whatever page you’re looking at, you’ll find all kinds of sources. You can often trace these sources back to where they came from, or just cite them in your paper directly when you choose to use Wikipedia as an academic writing source.
Let’s take a look at the Battle of Antietam. Just on the main page for the Battle of Antietam there are 21 sources cited. Your professor will never know that you got your information from Wikipedia when you cite some of those sources in the correct format.
Let’s say that you’re talking about the morning of the battle. When you look at that section in Wikipedia, you’ll see that there are a few hyperlinked footnotes at the end of several paragraphs. The first three are numbered 19 to 21 and look like this:
19. Sears, p. 181.
20. Wolff, p. 60.
21. Sears, pp. 190–91.
Let’s say that you’re talking about the morning of the battle. When you look at that section in Wikipedia, you’ll see that there are a few hyperlinked footnotes at the end of several paragraphs. The first three are numbered 19 to 21 and look like this:
19. Sears, p. 181.
20. Wolff, p. 60.
21. Sears, pp. 190–91.
While you are not using them directly, they are the sources that were used for the Wikipedia article you’re reading. Now you just need to list the original source that those footnotes refer to in your own academic writing paper’s bibliography, and your professor will never know, and you’ll meet your requirements for however many sources you need.
You can find all the bibliographic information for those sources at the bottom of the page, and they’ll look like this.
Sears, Stephen W. Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-89919-172-X.
Wolff, Robert S. "The Antietam Campaign." In Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X.
You can find all the bibliographic information for those sources at the bottom of the page, and they’ll look like this.
Sears, Stephen W. Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-89919-172-X.
Wolff, Robert S. "The Antietam Campaign." In Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X.
All you need to do is take off that ISBN number and you’ll be fine. You might even want to add a few other reputable footnotes that are in the document, like:
McPherson, James M. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
"Antietam”. Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Antietam. Retrieved 4 Arpil 2011.
Pay particular attention that that last source, the one for the Online Etymology Dictionary. Notice that it lists the website, which is good, but it also lists the retrieval date. This is when the person who wrote the Wikipedia article on the Battle of Antietam accessed that site and got the information.
You should do two things with this before putting it in your paper. First, go to the link and see if the site is still up and providing information. In this case it is, so I’ll change the date from “4 April 2011” to whatever today is, in this case “21 March 2013.” Your professor might not have time to check all of those, but your TA might, although I highly doubt they will, unless you’re in a small class or the paper is quite serious.
Notes
“Battle of Antietam.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 March 2013. Web. 21 March 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Antietam>
McPherson, James M. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
"Antietam”. Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Antietam. Retrieved 4 Arpil 2011.
Pay particular attention that that last source, the one for the Online Etymology Dictionary. Notice that it lists the website, which is good, but it also lists the retrieval date. This is when the person who wrote the Wikipedia article on the Battle of Antietam accessed that site and got the information.
You should do two things with this before putting it in your paper. First, go to the link and see if the site is still up and providing information. In this case it is, so I’ll change the date from “4 April 2011” to whatever today is, in this case “21 March 2013.” Your professor might not have time to check all of those, but your TA might, although I highly doubt they will, unless you’re in a small class or the paper is quite serious.
Notes
“Battle of Antietam.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 March 2013. Web. 21 March 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Antietam>
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