"What's a Wikipedia?"This is definitely a fair question but I am afraid that if you find yourself asking it you are probably on the wrong web-page, http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/course/ may prove to be of more use to you :)If you really want a description, Wikipedia is, to put it bluntly, a masterpiece of the wiki. As discussed on the homepage of this site, a wiki is a site or page on the world wide web which is a collaborative of people who add and edit information about the topic theme. Wikipedia is a site which attempts to be an encyclopedia with information contributed by the vast number of people who are members of the site. If you ever find yourself wondering something like "what is a toaster?", it can generally be found on Wikipedia. Just to prove my point, Wikipedia reveals that a toaster is "a small electric kitchen applance designed to toast slices of bread, an act also known as "making toast" ". A trivial topic like this is of course rather silly as everyone is likely to know what a toaster is, but wikipedia proves a great aid to virtually all who use it, from students at school, to university lecturers who may want reminding of which they once knew but have subsequently forgotten. How useful is Wikipedia?As shown above, wikipedia is a very helpful site indeed in terms of giving information of general knowledge and even depth of knowledge. Encyclopedias tend to be rather expensive items to buy and because of this, a free alternative is more than welcome to we who require the information which they contain.However, although Wikipedia is indeed a great asset to us, it is what it is, a wiki. Knowing that this means that anyone who is a member of the site can add and edit information to it, there is the potential for information to be added or edited which is not completely true, or rather opinion based and even at times complete and utter nonsense. Due to this fact, it cannot be considered a reliable source of information upon which to base studies or research projects. Most good academic facilities do not allow the use of Wikipedia for references of assignments
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