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On the credibility of information sources

Wikipedia has been the topic of much discussion in the office recently and it was interesting for me to see it as the centre of discussion on another mailing list that I am a member of. Essentially, someone had asked for comments/information about Wikipedia's editorial policy and this led to some quite active discussion. Ultimately, a head of a faculty in a University stated that he automatically failed students if they quoted Wikipedia in an assignment. This person believed that Wikipedia is not a credible source and to back that claim, referred to a blog and an 'anti' Wikipedia site. I am not sure what makes either of those two sources more credible (in that person's view) than Wikipedia but what makes an information source credible? Even the most 'revered' information sources from traditional media have made the occasional mistake, or written something which was eventually disproven. As one of the responders to this particular email pointed out, "all sources are to this or that extent credible or otherwise. The trick is knowing how to evaluate sources as to their credibility. Learning how to do that is part of being a student. Helping students learn how to do that is part of being a teacher. Simplistic rules like "don't use Wikipedia" sell everyone short."

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