Wikipedia is great, but...

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that's contributed to by people around the world and edited by it's members.

It's great for fast answers to all sorts of questions. All you need to do is go to wikipedia.org and choose the language that's most comfortable for you to read, then type your question in their search box. You should get an article that's written in an engaging, easy to understand manner with plenty of facts to support it's content.

Yes, Wikipedia is great, but for school research papers and reports,you should use the information you read on Wikipedia as a quick reference point to find the best sources of information to cite in your report. Wikipedia articles usually offer examples and illustrations that can help you grasp the meaning of whatever it is that your researching and it explains your subject in plain, easy to understand language.

Just make sure to check out some of the references listed in Wikipedia in order to actually write your report. There is always a bibliography at the end of every page in Wikipedia. You can also click on some of the highlighted words within the text, in order to see what new and wonderful things you can learn quickly and easily about your subject.

For example, if you're asked to do a research paper on Humprey Bogart. All you have to do is type 'Wikipedia.org' and when it comes up, you click on the language that you're most comfortable reading in (English, Chinese, Spanish...), then you type the word 'Humprey Bogart' in the Wikipedia search box.

Everything you need to do a really great research paper is summarized on that one page. Go look some of that stuff up so you can have several really great things to cite in your own bibliography and you're all set. Wikipedia is fabulous and easy to use. Don't hesitate to use it regularly as a quick source of information. It's fast and can give you a concrete place to start in your research.

Wikipedia defines itself as "... a free... multilingual, open content encyclopedia project operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative website) and encyclopedia..."

Don't be afraid to use Wikipedia as a tool to understand just about any subject under the sun, just make sure you can back up any claims you find on Wikipedia with alternate sources.

Learn more about this author, R Marie Taylor.
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