Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free web-based multilingual encyclopedia. Its collaborative nature makes it unique. Wikipedia, as the name denotes, uses a wiki platform, which allows users easily create, edit, and maintain a number of interlinked web pages. In Wikipedia’s case, each web page contains an encyclopedic entry for each topic. Currently most of the content in Wikipedia falls under the following topics: Culture and the Arts, Biographies and Persons, Geography and Places, and Society and Social Sciences.

Due to the collaborative way of adding and updating content, the online encyclopedia is considered to be a very good source for updated content. In Wikipedia you will find entries for terms that have only been recently coined. You will also find entries on big events that have not yet happened, are currently happening or just ended hours ago. Due to the freshness of content Wikipedia has become very popular.

Despite its popularity as a resource, Wikipedia has been criticized for the reliability of its content. There is concern with regards to erroneous and misleading content due to the editing model Wikipedia uses, which allows contributors to add and post content before they are even edited by experts. This means that people using Wikipedia for research might see content with errors and not know about it. The quality of posts (writing style) has also come in question since not all editors are able to string together different paragraphs from different contributors that seamlessly, making for stilted content at times.