Do not Use Wikipedia in Academic Paper

Recently, the Internet has developed very fast, we can chat online, we can play online, and we can search for all the information on the Internet. As a result, the Wikipedia appeared very suddenly. It is easier and faster to find some information that you want. After the Wikipedia became famous at all, people have begun to argue about whether we should quote some article or information on the Wikipedia website and use it in our academic paper? Some people think it is really convenient to get information and that we should use it because we do not have enough time to do enough research, so we can use it. However, other experts think that our paper is academic; we need do research and prove our statement, and the evidence must be powerful so that people can trust you. If using Wikipedia is fine, everybody can become a professor or scientist. Furthermore, in this case, you should write your paper; you should find your own improvement, not using other people’s result, such as Wikipedia. We do not have to use Wikipedia in our academic paper because it is an irresponsible position to put Wikipedia quote in our academic paper; it will make us lose our critical-thinking skills.

First, it is an irresponsibility position to put Wikipedia in our academic paper. According to Lengel, Wikipedia is a database where can any one edit some article, so that the article or information may not have some evidence to prove. (2006. Para. 6) and some collage already said, “do not use Wikipedia at all.” “Middlebury College, a prestigious liberal arts school in Vermont, recently announced that its history department had banned the citation of Wikipedia for history papers and exams” (Byers, 2007, para. 1) This shows that already there are some university think that using Wikipedia is not an academic movement.

Second, it will make us lose our critical thinking skills. Recently people always use Wikipedia to write their paper, because it is much easier and faster to find what they want. However, those ideas may make students or some researchers lose their thinking abilities, because they will 100% trust what Wikipedia said, so that they will stop thinking or studying some new things and they will become lazy. Moreover, it may cause the major development to stop.

Some expert said that, Wikipedia and some other related websites are very popular right now; it must be a tool to help people finish their academic paper. (Wolverton, 2007. Para. 9) However, it is not a powerful evidence shows that we are right to use Wikipedia article to right our paper because it is very irresponsibility position, nobody can prove the article is right or truth, because we do not know the author either. So it is necessary to stop using Wikipedia.

In conclusion, the whole world has developed very fast. All of areas are already have their own academic levels. If we want to improve them, if we want to develop more, we should stop using Wikipedia articles. A successful paper must be created by someone’s self; it should not be copied from Wikipedia. In fact, Wikipedia is a tool to help people understand some information that they want to know generally. It may true or not; however, we have to stop it and use our minds to write an academic paper.

Reference:
Byers Meredit (2007, March 8th.) Controversy over use of Wikipedia in academic papers arrives at Smith. Sophian, Smith College. Retrived on June 5, 2009 from http://tinyurl.com/
Wolverton Jason (2007, Jan. 22nd.) Wikipedia Wisdom. Valley Vanguard. Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from http://www.svsu.edu/
Lengel Jim (2006, Feb. 7th.) Authority. Teaching with Technology. Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from http://tinyurl.com/