MATH470 - Randazzo

Wikipedia is the biggest encyclopedia ever created. It exists in hundreds of languages. Anyone may contribute by writing or editing articles, and articles are developed over time, which means articles can be of varying quality. It is important for readers to recognize whether an article is a good or poor. To evaluate Wikipedia article quality, look in three places: the article's text and references, the article's "talk" page, and the page's edit history.

Again, when researching a topic, one of the first things you might do is head to an encyclopedia or Wikipedia to get a basic sense of what the topic is about or to find some keywords to use in a library database search.  This is a good strategy!

For an academic report or presentation, however, you usually wouldn't cite Wikipedia itself, but rather you would cite the references that provide whatever information you're interested in.  Doing this allows you and your professor to verify that your information is coming from a reliable source.  Have a look at the below image, taken from the Black Lives Matter Wikipedia page, for an example of where to find references in a Wikipedia.

If for whatever reason you want to cite an entire Wikipedia page (for instance, because there are so many basic facts on it that it wouldn't make sense to cite each of the facts individually), always cite the Permanent link version of the page.  This will provide a snapshot of the Wikipedia page in time, which is better for citation purposes than just citing a page that might (and will) change tomorrow.