Philosophy: Reference

Wikipedia is an online resource that can be edited by anyone who has access to the internet.

It has been subject to much criticism by librarians and faculty in academia because:

• there are no guarantees that the writer(s) of the articles are qualified to write about the subject matter
• there is the real possibility that the author(s) could post misleading information
• the lack of any quality controls of the content in Wikipedia (i.e. fact-checking)

Wikipedia does have its good points:

• the content in Wikipedia is updated on a continual basis
• it does provide introductory information to a topic
• the bibliographies at the end of the articles do oft-times lead to authoritative resources

Because of its open nature Wikipedia is still held in much suspect by the majority of librarians and scholars.

If you decide to use any resources found in a Wikipedia bibliography you should make sure that that resource is authoratative.

For more information on assessing online resource, please see the "Evaluating a Website" page.

Reference sources are online or print encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases or any other source that are designed to provide a concise yet authoritative overview of a topic of research.

Reference sources are excellent sources to use when you are starting your research, because they provide:

• general background information
• brief and factual overviews
• explanations of terminology and definitions of terms
• a list of authors who are experts in the field
• bibliographies of sources for further reading

The following is a list of electronic reference sources to help you get started in your research.