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I have to jump on your bandwagon! I have taught my students very similarly. Like you, I often use WIKIpedia and I encourage them to use it as a base. A good discussion of its strengths and weaknesses is valuable--it teaches them how to think and also how to judge resources--something they will have to do more and more as the internet becomes the go-to place for information. Team and Family, Katrina Baecht | KIPP Austin Librarian office: 512-501-3586 | fax: 501-3587 8509 FM 969, Bldg 676 | Austin, TX 78724 kbaecht@kippaustin.org "Be the change you wish to see in the world." -----Original Message----- From: School Library Media & Network Communications [mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Alicia Duell Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:18 AM To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Subject: Re: Wikipedia Good Morning All, I have been reading this thread with great interest, and now I feel that it's my turn to jump into the fray! As part of my Big6 research unit with all freshman and juniors, I devote a portion of one class to a discussion of Wikipedia. I always start off by asking them their opinions of Wikipedia. A few students inevitably raise their hands and grudgingly tell me that it's bad and unreliable. Their jaws always drop, however, when I tell them that I really like it and think it's incredibly useful! Some even cheer. I did NOT always feel this way, however, but I thought about it a lot and I believe that it's a little misleading to tell students that Wikipedia is a source with no worth or credibility. I actually think that it's a goldmine of information to kick off a research experience. I really and truly understand where everyone is coming from, however, so I say this with all due respect to my colleagues! I use Wikipedia in both my personal and professional life a great deal. ! Whenever I'm faced with researching a topic with which I'm unfamiliar, I'll often read the Wikipedia article for an overview of the topic, which almost always provides me with a multitude of helpful information: great keywords (names, places, subtopics, etc.); links to other Wikipedia articles which provide me with further useful overviews and keywords; footnotes and citations which point me to other books and articles; external links (section at the very bottom of every Wikipedia article) which actually take me to other websites that may be useful for my research. I get all of this from Wikipedia, and I think that's a great thing! Because I use and value Wikipedia personally, I feel that it's dishonest of me to denigrate it to students. We always talk about its weaknesses, however, and I feel that students leave our discussion with an understanding of how and why it's useful, but also why it's not an appropriate academic resource to cite (authority of authorship is importa! nt when using info from a source-- I do hear my colleagues who argue that it's perhaps elitist to refuse to cite a "less worthy" source, but when you use a Wikipedia article as a jumping off point, without taking notes from it and populating your final project with facts from other, cited, sources, I feel like it's appropriate not to cite Wikipedia). Again, I feel that it's inauthentic to dismiss Wikipedia outright as a useless resource, when I know it's not useless! Kids are going to use it regardless of what we tell them (not necessarily for school projects, but certainly in their own lives), and I think that it sidelines us professionally, in the eyes of the kids, when they KNOW it's useful, but we are telling them that it's not. Jump on board, I say, and teach them to use it in the best way possible, while still protecting the academic rigor and expectations of good research! Respectfully, Alicia Duell Library Media Specialist Riverside Brookfield High School Riverside, IL 60546 duella@rbhs208.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. 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