Questions

Wikipedia founder:, Jimmy Wales - “It is pretty good, but you have to be careful with it,” he said. “It’s good enough knowledge, depending on what your purpose is.”

** Using Wikipedia as a research tool **
//Main articles: [|Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia] and [|Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia]// As a [|wiki], articles are never complete. They are continually edited and improved over time. In general, this results in an upward trend of quality and a growing consensus over a [|fair and balanced] representation of information. Users should be aware that not all articles are of encyclopedic quality from the start: they may contain false or debatable information. Indeed, many articles start their lives as partisan; and, after a long process of discussion, debate, and argument, they gradually take on a [|neutral point of view] reached through [|consensus]. Others may, for a while, become caught up in a heavily unbalanced viewpoint which can take some time — months perhaps — to achieve better balanced coverage of their subject. In part, this is because editors often contribute content in which they have a particular interest and do not attempt to make each article that they edit comprehensive. However, eventually, additional editors expand and contribute to articles and strive to achieve balance and comprehensive coverage. In addition, Wikipedia operates a number of internal resolution processes that can assist when editors disagree on content and approach. Usually, the editors eventually reach a consensus on ways to improve the article. The //ideal// Wikipedia article is well-written, balanced, [|neutral], and encyclopedic, containing comprehensive, notable, [|verifiable] knowledge. An increasing number of articles reach this standard over time, and many already have. Our best articles are called [|Featured Articles] (and display a small star in the upper right corner of the article), and our second best tier of articles are designated [|Good Articles]. However, this is a process and can take months or years to be achieved, as each user adds their contribution in turn. Some articles contain statements which have not yet been fully [|cited]. Others will later be augmented with new sections. Some information will be considered by later contributors to be insufficiently founded and, therefore, may be removed or expounded. While the overall trend is toward improvement, it is important to use Wikipedia carefully if it is intended to be used as a research source, since individual articles will, by their nature, vary in quality and maturity. Available [|are guidelines and information pages] designed to help users and researchers do this effectively, as is an article that summarizes third-party studies and assessments of the [|reliability of Wikipedia].