how today's college students use wikipedia for course-related research

A majority of respondents frequently used Wikipedia for background information, but less often than they used other common resources, such as course readings and Google. Architecture, engineering, and science majors were more likely to use Wikipedia for course-related research than respondents in other majors.

Full Answer

How do students use Wikipedia?

Mar 01, 2010 · The findings suggest Wikipedia is used in combination with other information resources. Wikipedia meets the needs of college students because it offers a mixture of coverage, currency, convenience, and comprehensibility in a world where credibility is less of a given or an expectation from today’s students.

Is Wikipedia a reliable source of information for students?

Jun 19, 2013 · The findings suggest Wikipedia is used in combination with other information resources. Wikipedia meets the needs of college students because it offers a mixture of coverage, currency, convenience, and comprehensibility in a world where credibility is less of a given or an expectation from today’s students.

Does Wikipedia meet the needs of college students?

The findings suggest Wikipedia is used in combination with other information resources. Wikipedia meets the needs of college students because it offers a mixture of coverage, currency, convenience, and comprehensibility in a world where credibility is less of a given or an expectation from today’s students.

Should academics stop using Wikipedia?

While more science students used Wikipedia than social science students and more four year college students used it compared to those enrolled in 2 year schools, 82% of those surveyed responded they use Wikipedia most often to “obtain background information or a summary of a topic.”. It seems that many of them use to as the first step to previewing their topic and to get …

What percentage of college students use Wikipedia for research?

Should students use Wikipedia for research?

How and why do college students use Wikipedia?

How might you use Wikipedia in conducting college level research?

Why students should use Wikipedia?

What is the best use of Wikipedia for a research project?

What is your opinion about Wikipedia and its usage in research?

How can Wikipedia be used in your topic research quizlet?

What are the benefits of using Wikipedia?

How has Wikipedia helped education?

How will you intend to use wiki in your studies?

What should you know about doing research using Google and Wikipedia?

Methods

The findings reported in this paper are part of Project Information Literacy (PIL), an ongoing national research study, based in the University of Washington’s Information School [ 2 ].

Discussion

Few research studies have investigated how and why college students use Wikipedia.

Conclusion

This study investigated how and why college students use Wikipedia within the context of using other resources for course–related research.

About the authors

Alison J. Head, Ph.D. and Michael B. Eisenberg, Ph.D. are the Co–Principal Investigators and Co-Directors of Project Information Literacy, which is based in the Information School at the University of Washington. Head is a Research Scientist in the Information School and Eisenberg is Dean Emeritus and Professor in the Information School.

Acknowledgments

Hil Lyons, Karen Schneider, and Sarah Vital made insightful recommendations for this paper and we thank them for their time. This research was sponsored with a gift to the University of Washington’s Information School from ProQuest and contributing funds from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Notes

1. For a discussion of Wikipedia and its authority, completeness, and reliability, see the following: Scott Jaschik, 2007. “A stand against Wikipedia ,” Inside Higher Ed (January), at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki, accessed 16 December 2009; Simson Garfinkel, 2008.

Is Wikipedia a resource?

Wikipedia is a resource for researchers due to its collaborative and disruptive characteristics, but it can also be a source of information on what the most widely held views on a topic are. This study looks at the entry for “translation” in Wikipedia in all the languages available in January 2015. Those entries are first categorized with respect to size (measured in bytes), activity (level of activity in 2014) and assigned quality labels. Discussion pages are then analysed to isolate any specific problem (vandalism, publicity and thinkgroups) and a content analysis is carried out to evaluate what features of translation are most frequently commented on in the wikis. The collected data is analysed in order to find out which ideas may be intrinsic to a global idea of translation, and which are more language-specific. The results are compared to the current situation of the translation industry and translation studies.

What is the purpose of a subject encyclopedia?

One of the principle purposes of reference, especially subject encyclopedias, is to facilitate a new learner’s approach to a field of study by providing context and vocabulary for the effective use of the rest of the library. Some have even referred to the subject encyclopedia as the “Rolls Royce of the Library” (East, 2010). With the economic pressures on libraries and the dramatic changes in usage patterns brought on by the shift from print to electronic content, subject encyclopedias must be re-invented if they are to embody their intended function. While print reference has been overshadowed by information on the Web, studies on student research habits show that the need for context, which reference provides, is higher than ever before. This chapter will argue for the contemporary relevance of the subject encyclopedia in response to student research needs in the information age and explore current and possible visions for the transformation of the subject encyclopedia to suit digital media and the open Web in particular.

What are some examples of user-generated content?

Popular examples for the provision of such “user-generated content” are Wikipedia and YouTube, but also contents within blogs, forums, question-and-answer sites and even social media like Facebook belong to this category. Based on an explorative interview study, this paper investigates how students perceive the quality of contents across these different informational platforms, and how they evaluate information quality when using user-generated content for academic (learning) purposes. The findings showed that students perceive the quality of contents rather as good, especially on Wikipedia and YouTube. In contrast, question-and-answer sites were widely seen as having a strongly mixed or poor quality. In terms of quality evaluation, students reported a comprehensive system of quality criteria embracing content-related and source-related factors as well as visual perceptions. Besides the image of a source, especially comprehensibility, accuracy, and coverage played a major role. Visual appearance was less important. However, the evaluation efforts varied strongly across the applications and among the participants. In this regard, students’ assessment approaches ranged from a rather non-reflective usage of information in single cases up to more sophisticated approaches. This has important implications for universities and lecturers, as the outcome indicates that further training is required to level up and standardize students’ information literacy competences. The results are preliminary in their nature and are, therefore, to be validated in further research.

Is social media useful for medical education?

Social media’s incorporation into medical education includes its use as a platform to distribute information to the public (“distributive education”) and as a platform to provide information to a specific audience (“push education”). These functions have proved beneficial in many regards, such as enabling constant access to the subject matter, other learners, and educators. However, the usefulness of using social media as part of medical education is limited by the vast quantities of poor quality information and the time required to find information of sufficient quality and relevance, a problem confounded by many student’s preoccupation with “efficient” learning. In this Perspective, the authors discuss whether social media has proved useful as a tool for medical education. The current growth in the use of social media as a tool for medical education seems to be principally supported by students’ desire for efficient learning rather than by the efficacy of social media as a resource for medical education. Therefore, improvements in the quality of information required to maximize the impact of social media as a tool for medical education are required. Suggested improvements include an increase in the amount of educational content distributed on social media produced by academic institutions, such as universities and journals.

What is OER in education?

Foreword: Open educational resources (OER) are rapidly becoming a major phenomenon in education across OECD countries and beyond. Initiated largely at the level of institutions by pioneers and technology advocates, the OER community has grown considerably over the past ten years and the impact of OER on educational systems has become an issue of public policy. The open education community is increasingly well organised and enjoys support from various institutions and foundations. National governments have developed, or are in the process of developing, open policies to support access to and use of OER. It is the task of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) and the OECD Directorate for Education to help policy makers and other stakeholders to confront challenges and benefit from new developments in the educational domain for better policies on improving teaching and learning. This report follows earlier work by CERI on OER, which resulted in the publication Giving Knowledge for Free in 2007, and an OECD country questionnaire on OER-related policy and activities in 2012. It seeks to provide a state of the art review of evidence on OER practice and impacts, and evaluate the remaining challenges for OER entering the mainstream of educational practice.

What is the purpose of UGC?

One of the objectives of UGC is to conduct efficient, transparent standard tests to evaluate the ability of the candidate for the purpose of admission and recruitment. UGC conducts National Eligibility Test (NET) to determine eligibility for lectureship and for award of Junior Research fellowship (JRF) in Social Sciences, Humanities, Forensic Science, Environmental, Computer Science and Electronic Science. Wikipedia is a website developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing them to change or add study material on it. The purpose of the study is to examine the extent to which the syllabus of Library and Information Science subject of the UGC-NET examination has been covered in Wikipedia. The findings reveal that all topics of the LIS subject incorporated in the UGC-NET examination syllabus are covered in Wikipedia. The researcher has identified some subjects for which the contents are inadequate. It is recommended by the researcher to add references and external links.

Can Wikipedia be edited?

Wikipedia editing assignments in the classroom provide unique transformative learning experiences to students and educators alike. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. In lieu of a traditional essay or research paper, professors are increasingly asking their students to edit Wikipedia articles. This active and collaborative pedagogical approach encourages the development of a host of student skills: information literacy, critical thinking, media literacy, collaboration, online communication, writing, and critical digital literacy skills. This study examines Kinesiology and Physical Education students' perceptions, attitudes, and experiences before and after completing a librarian-led Wikipedia assignment. Using modified pre- and post-surveys the authors surveyed 63 Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) students completing a librarian-led Wikipedia assignment in an Educational and Counselling Psychology course. While overall the experience was positive and met most student expectations, they are not committed to editing Wikipedia in the future, nor are they necessarily in favour of replacing the traditional research essay with Wikipedia editing assignments.

Can Wikipedia be used as a reading list?

Wikipedia is not a replacement for doing a reading assignment by your professor. Yes, Wikipedia may have a summary of an article or book on your reading list. However, the editor (or editors) who did that summary might have made errors or they might mis-characterize the contents. An editor who is biased against or for the work may add unsourced personal opinion. It is even possible that a person might introduce completely made-up, false information as a hoax.

Does Wikipedia have a summary?

Yes, Wikipedia may have a summary of an article or book on your reading list. However, the editor (or editors) who did that summary might have made errors or they might mis-characterize the contents. An editor who is biased against or for the work may add unsourced personal opinion. It is even possible that a person might introduce completely ...

Is Wikipedia a reliable source?

Wikipedia is not a reliable source for academic writing or research. Wikipedia is increasingly used by people in the academic community, from freshman students to distinguished professorship, as an easily accessible tertiary source for information about anything and everything, and as a quick "ready reference", to get a sense of a concept or idea.

Can an uninformed editor introduce incorrect information?

Even with Featured Articles, though, an uninformed editor may introduce incorrect information. Follow two simple rules: Do your research properly and wisely. Remember that any encyclopedia is a starting point for research, not an ending point. An encyclopedia, whether a paper one like Britannica or an online one, ...

What are the rules for encyclopedias?

Follow two simple rules: Do your research properly and wisely. Remember that any encyclopedia is a starting point for research, not an ending point. An encyclopedia, whether a paper one like Britannica or an online one, is great for getting a general understanding of a subject before you dive into it, but then you do have to dive into your subject;

Is an encyclopedia an ending point?

Remember that any encyclopedia is a starting point for research, not an ending point. An encyclopedia, whether a paper one like Britannica or an online one, is great for getting a general understanding of a subject before you dive into it, but then you do have to dive into your subject; using books and articles and other higher-quality sources ...

Do you need to cite a fact checker?

Citation is not needed for fact-checking general knowledge. Some details, such as the population of Canada, can be found on Wikipedia, but it is best to verify the information using an authoritative source, such as the CIA World Factbook.

Is Wikipedia an encyclopedia?

The key to using Wikipedia for academic research is to change students’ perceptions—despite its name and structure, it is not an encyclopedia. Rather, it is a collection of information from tons of sources that must be sifted through before using.

Does Wikipedia have citations?

With that said, every page in the enormous vault that is Wikipedia contains citations, references and other qualifying sources that can be used freely and with confidence. Most, if not all, Wikipedia citations include hyperlinks to the original content.

Is Wikipedia a reliable source?

The crowd-sourced site Wikipedia has long been bemoaned by the academic community as an unreliable source for student research . Some educators, however, have embraced the site—not only for pointing students in the direction of quality information, but also for teaching information literacy skills.

What is the first result of a search?

Wikipedia is often the first result that comes up in a Web search. A Web site’s popularity and size—and not necessarily its quality—are big factors that help determine how high up in the list it appears. Make sure to explore at least the first several links returned by search results, so that you can determine the credibility and usefulness of each.

Can you cite Wikipedia with confidence?

Take a look at the URL box in your browser. If it begins with something like “Yale.edu” or “CNN.com,” you can cite the source with confidence.

Is a footnote a citation?

The footnotes operate like citations—a hyperlinked notation on the page directs the user to an original source. Footnotes tend to be more reliable than regular Wikipedia citations, but a discerning eye is still required before settling on a source. When you’re ready to cite, do so carefully. So Wikipedia has pointed you to a reliable online ...