Fun with Wikipedia

Subject Area(s):

• Higher Ed: Communications/Media
• Higher Ed: General
• Higher Ed: Library Science

Grade Level(s):

• First Year
• Lower level
• Graduate
• Upper Level

Description:

This teaching idea examines the online resource Wikipedia through an in class exercise.



Submitted by Professor Scott Nicholson, Associate Professor, and

Director, Masters in Library and Information Science, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University.

Goals & Objectives:

To introduce students to online searching.

To teach students they need to determine and evaluate reference materials based on the following characteristics or qualities: Currency, Scope, Authority, Impartiality, Accuracy, Audience Level.

Materials:

Teacher:

computer and overhead projector

Students:

computer

Procedures:

One of the challenges I face is having students who believe that Wikipedia is the single best source. While Wikipedia is sometimes good, the lack of quality control and the fact that the entries can be easily changed produces an unpredictable resource. Here’s a short in-class exercise that I use to explore Wikipedia. I ask each student to think about a topic about which they are an expert; if I feel it’s needed, I record these topics before asking them to search to avoid students changing topics. I then ask them to go to the Wikipedia entry for that topic and evaluate the site. I give them criteria based upon some of the same criteria librarians use in quality determination for collection development of reference materials: Currency, Scope, Accuracy, Impartiality, Authority, Audience Level. I then have them report their findings to the class. Typically, some entries are great and other entries are not very good. This exercise can lead into several discussions:

1. When is Wikipedia a good choice as a resource?
2. What other types of resources could they use for more credible information? (In this task, they knew something about the topic.)
3. If a topic were new to them, how could they tell if the Wikipedia entry was credible?
4. What is the role of the library in finding information? (This is a great time to bring in the criteria that they had to think about earlier as a way of demonstrating value of library services.)

Assessment:

Observing and discussing teaching idea with students.

Standards:

ACRL Standards (Higher Education IL Standards)

Determines the nature and extent of information needed

• Identifies a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information

Accesses needed information effectively and efficiently

• Selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information

Evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system

• Articulates and applies initial criteria for evaluating both the information and its sources