Growing up in a technological society where technology is the way of life and how we utilize it for resources, research purposes and the level of accuracy can be a bit confusing with so much information provided when surfing then internet. I must admit, that at time I find myself looking up information and clicking on the links in Wiki for guidance. As a kid I use to hear people joke during an argument about information and sarcastically they would say, “let me guess, your source is from wiki.” Meaning that Wikipedia was not always accurate. As a student, my teachers constantly reminded me not to use Wikipedia because it was not a good resource and that some information was not accurate. As explained in the article, “My premise for the first is that you are going to use Wikipedia as a source for writing assignments regardless of cautions against it, so it is more helpful to address ways to use it effectively than to ignore it (and ignoring it precludes some potentially beneficial uses of Wikipedia anyway).” The rules are if you are going to use it regardless to the teachers advise, one should use it to our advantage. The article also explains that, Wipipedia is a good source and way of good writing practices. As explained in the article “Thus, this chapter proceeds with the assumption that it Wikipedia Is Good for You!? 207 is useful to consider Wikipedia as both a product (i.e., a source) and a representation of process (i.e., a guide to practices). It is good for you but one must proceed with caution.
As writers and researchers I understand the concerns that Wiki is not always a good source because it has changeability, and as stated in the article that we must be cautious when using wiki as a source. As a result, articles can display incorrect information. The explanation as to why teachers do not like Wikipedia is because the articles shared do not remain the same, anyone can can write information on wiki without any educational background, therefore they believe that the information is not accurate. Another underlying issue is that the articles are constantly changing and teachers feel that is not accurate.
Purdy explains the different ways that Wikipedia can be used as a tool to writing a research paper is by reading the information provided which can guide you into writing a good research project, one can make a change to the wiki article which can be beneficial to writing your research topic. It can also be a good tool to help us revise our work. Is WIKIPEDIA a good site I agree with the following quote, “I actually do think Wikipedia is an amazing thing. It is the first place I go when I’m looking for knowledge. Or when I want to create some.” —Stephen Colbert. This knowledge that he talks about is based on people constantly changing what is wrong about the information being shared. It is a good source and after this article I will continue to use it as a way to guide me when writing my research topic.
