A Win for Wikipedia?? ...2010 Encyclopaedia Britannica Is the Last!

[Ombligo]

JoeH wrote:
[quote=bwicklander]
[quote=Sam3]
I had an instructor a couple of years ago who said that she would fail anybody who used Wikipedia as a source.

I had an instructor knock me down a grade for using a Wikipedia - the subject matter was well known (dowry in India) she also gave credit to other students that used blogs as sources. Ticked me off!

....Justice!
The instructor would probably have knocked off points for using an encyclopedia as well, even if it was the Britannica. Wikipedia and encyclopedias are not considered primary sources, some would not even consider them secondary sources. Now a blog could be a primary source if you were able to confirm that the writer was writing their own experience or opinion, but not for other purposes. Citations in wikipedia can be useful for finding primary sources, but those should be compared to others. :agree:

I do not allow my students to use Wiki in their bibliography. While I encourage them to check it as a starting point in subject research, it is just their to point them towards reliable source material.

A concern I and other instructors have is how even the best students seemingly accept anything found online as factual. There is no questioning or skepticism anymore. This is extremely troubling and does not bode well for the future.

[Lux Interior]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
World Book and Funk & Wagnell's come to mind.

"Look that up in your Funk & Wagnall's!"

Always sounded like "fukkin Wagnall's to me. Maybe it was supposed to?

[mikebw]

My parents used to have the Encyclopedia Britanica 1888 complete set. Not sure what happened to it unfortunately.

[mrbigstuff]

I've been trolling CL to find an encyclopedia set for my kids.

[3d]

We had a set of World Book Encyclopedia growing up. I preferred it over the Britannica when i was a kid.

[mrbigstuff]

3d wrote:
We had a set of World Book Encyclopedia growing up. I preferred it over the Britannica when i was a kid.

that's what we had, too. my mom bought them from a door-to-door salesman.

[$tevie]

We had Collier's, which is the name I was able to conjure up from memory. Then World Book and Book of Knowledge showed up as I began to poke around the internet. There was also Encyclopedia Americana. It was funny to see those names again. I haven't thought about print encyclopedias in some time. And neither has anybody else, obviously, since they have gone the way of the village smithy.

[mikebw]

Don't forget Encarta! I got a free copy for doing some Microsoft survey thing. Was actually useful at the time since I didn't have Internet access until '96 or so.

[3d]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=3d]
We had a set of World Book Encyclopedia growing up. I preferred it over the Britannica when i was a kid.

that's what we had, too. my mom bought them from a door-to-door salesman.
Yup. I remember sitting on the living room floor listening to the salesman with my mom and siblings. The volume (H?) with the clear plastic overlays of the human body internal organs still creeps me out. And this was 30+ years ago!

[Rick-o]

World Book was my favorite. They must have did a good job of selling, because there was a set in just about every classroom in my school district.

I remember thumbing through a volume in grade school and seeing a great pic of a tarantula. We were all amazed, but then again, we were just third graders! :big grin:

I feel that printed media is already dead, it's just so big, that it hasn't fallen over yet. You may still find books 10 years from now, but they are on the way out, like so many 8-tracks, VHS movies, etc.