The Credibility of Wikipedia

Writing an Argument

Tomasina Cordero

University of Phoenix

Management

MGT 521

Bruce J. Puma Jr.

April 26, 2011

The Credibility of Wikipedia

The popularity of Wikipedia in the academic community has been growing since their creation in 2001. A recorded 1/3 of online users among a study sample used Wikipedia and that it was more popular among the well-educated and college students than among high-school graduates (Lim, 2009). Students access Wikipedia because of the ease. The site is an affordable and available source for any individual with Internet access. Question of credibility of the Wikipedia site has developed because of inaccurate entries or the ability of any user to alter an existing page. Any user with the skill to create a web page can publish a Wikipedia page regardless of credentials or credibility. An additional position fueling the use of Wikipedia is the adamant declaration for the academic forum. Once students are told not to use a specific forum as reference on a paper, the student immediately searches the source in question. As the use of the popular website explodes among academia use should students use Wikipedia a credible and valid source of information?

Affordable and Available Source

The capability to use Wikipedia only requires the access of Internet service. Students and non-students can research topics without a need to logon to private college access. Wikipedia is a free medium that any individual can retrieve or post information. Through the information available on Wikipedia one can have use of numerous alternative data sources that are citable as reference on an academic paper, providing the satisfaction of credential and credibility criteria.

Wikipedia suggests an inspiring author search his or her subject within the site prior to creating a new page on a subject. However, this is merely a suggestion and if the author feels compelled to create a more elaborate subject matter than currently available it can be done. If...