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Failing grades blamed on Wikipedia instead of at themselves

According to a recent headline that caught my attention, Failing Exam Passes Blamed on Wikipedia 'Littered with Inaccuracies.'. Without reading anything in the article, I am inclined to think that the online encyclopedia isn't to blame for the bad grades, just the person stupid enough to use it. It's one reason why I'm leary of citing it in any opinion I write (and don't, although I may use it as a starting point for research sometimes), and in the few times I have seen a trial court or brief cite to it, I am especially careful of what they are citing it for, why they chose to cite that instead of a more stable and reputable source, and whether they even needed to do so. While I certainly can appreciate using online sources for research, I think the more careful researcher will find better sources.

I say that if Wikipedia is supposed to be an encyclopedia, wouldn't it fall into the general category of disfavor? Or were my high school teachers that taught me not to use an encyclopedia as a cite for references wrong?

Either way, I would hardly blame an online resource for getting a bad grade on a test. I would blame the test taker for failing to do more than cursory wikipedia research.

Full post as published by The Once and Future Lawyer on June 22, 2008 (boomark / email).

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