Wikipedia - the Free Encyclopedia
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Wikipedia is one of today’s most commonly used free search engines. It is defined as an internet encyclopedia written collaboratively by the people who use it. A wiki is a web page within the search engine which allows collaborative continuous modification of its information. Although Wikipedia sounds fine and dandy, its reliability and credibility of information fall well short of the standards for a school paper. Just within sociology, Wikipedia shares similarities in objectivity. Wikipedia also can be a useful starting point for internet research projects and follows just as other internet sources, under the guidelines for evaluating internet sources.
Objectivity is a personal neutrality in conducting research. Objectivity means that researchers carefully hold to scientific procedures and do not let their own attitudes and beliefs influence the results. One way to limit distortion caused by personal values is by repeating research by other investigators. If other researchers repeat a study using the same procedures and obtain the same results, we gain confidence that the results are both reliable and valid. There is a lack of objectivity within Wikipedia because there is more than one author that can influence the results of the research due to sharing their own attitudes and beliefs.
According to the articles that I have read and the textbook information, major concerns about Wikipedia’s content includes reliability, quality of presentation, and systematic bias, especially gender and racial bias. Wikipedia has been criticized for the anonymity of editors and social stratification. Wikipedia does not expect society to trust them and editors do not have to reveal their name. They acknowledge that they should not be used as a primary source of research. In comparison, sociologists have to reveal their name and have an answer to why they are doing the study. In similarity, wikipedia writers and sociologists both write about topics they are interested in, so many subjects do not get covered. It is also common that sociologists choose to research topics that affect their sex, giving a great affect on interfering with their results. These issues about objectivity of Wikipedia and social research are a continued concern.
Although Wikipedia is not the best internet research source, it is still a useful starting point for internet research projects. Wikipedia provides a variety of information on a wide range of topics. Wikipedia could be defined as a tree. Each topic contains linked wiki pages highlighted in blue that branch off to other information making it like a tree with never ending branches. However, Wikipedia