Views: Pros and Cons Topic Map Slideshow

Tools:  Essay Planner Presentation Planner Printable Version                    Remove from My Favorites
Category: Education, Society & Politics
Tags: information, Wikipedia, source
Background information: http://en.wikipedia.org
 +59.08% +59.08% +59.08%

  Support:
 +59.08%
Points:
Wikipedia is a useful source of information for university students  
  • because: its coverage is broad and encyclopedic in scope  +60.09%

    • because: it has more than 1 million articles on wide-ranging topics  +56.45%

      • Problem: there is no hierarchy of knowledge  (Wikipedia (2019)) 

        • Solution: there are portals and categories  

          • Problem: they don't tell users which information is more important to know  

            • but: comparing information importance is not the function of an encyclopedia  

      • because: Wikipedia gives a general information for the students, the information can be use as a covered introduction, not for the reference propose.  

    • but: it is also bias  -87.1%

      • but: Wikipedia has an official Neutral Point of View policy  (Wikipedia (2019)) +87.1%

        • but: Wikipedia articles rarely ascend to the desired level of neutrality  

          • Cause: all articles are edited by people  

            • because: people are inherently biased  

        • because: it aims to describe disputes rather than to take sides in them  

      • but: it uses a program called WikiScanner to detect bias (Wikipedia, 2009, Reliability of Wikipedia, Section 3.3) 

      • because: it reflects the viewpoints and interests of those who write it  

        • but: there can be many authors, so the text is less biased to one opinion  

        • but: all writing reflects the biases of the author(s) to some degree  

  • but: many schools do not allow their students to use Wikipedia as sources  

    • Problem: its information lacks authority  

      • Solution: users can verify its information with other sources  

    • but: schools should not forbid the use of Wikipedia as a source  

      • because: if students get inaccurate information from Wikipedia, it is a chance for them to contribute by correcting it and giving a reference  

      • because: if students get inaccurate information from Wikipedia, it is an opportunity to educate them on fact checking  

      • because: forbidding the use of a source of information is censorship  

  • because: its entries invariably show up on the first page of a Google search  

  • but: Wikipedia can be edited by everyone, it hasn't any credit for students.  

  • but: some of its information may be inaccurate or misleading  -58.06%

    • because: anyone can create and edit its content  -58.06%

      • but: inaccurate entries are quickly corrected by editors who monitor pages  (Wikipedia (2019)) +58.06%

        • but: You can never be sure that the latest version is absolutely correct  

          • but: you can never be sure that any information is correct unless you check it  

      • but: the democratic and timely way in which content is created and revised adds value to Wikipedia (Wallace (2005) ) 


47 hits by logged in students since 18 Feb 2009