Scholarly articles vs. Wikipedia
Scholarly articles
- Written by acknowledged experts and scholars in the field
- Authorship is known and credentials are provided
- Bibliography is always included
- Database searching for articles can be cumbersome
- Reviewed by a panel of peers
- Methodology of research is explained
- Based on original research or new applications of the research of others
- Uses technical or discipline specific language
- Published in a specialized journal
- Does not change
- Acknowledged authoritative source
Best uses: academic research, defending your thesis, supporting your opinion, bibliography references
Wikipedia
- Best free electronic encyclopedia
- No one is paid to provide or monitor content
- Almost anyone can author or edit
- Articles can change at any time
- Citations can be unreliable
- “Vandalism” can be a problem
- Quick to update
- Problems of bias---people, businesses and political parties editing content about themselves or others
- Easy to navigate
- Mixed reviews from scholars on the quality of the content
- Controversial resource
Best uses: discovery, choosing a research topic, finding links to similar or related topics, quick reference