Legal Research

Citing to Wikipedia

By MaryMcCormick

I was recently asked whether law students should cite to Wikipedia in academic papers. The answer is No. Wikipedia itself says: ?Because Wikipedia is an on-going work to which in principle anybody can contribute, it differs from a paper-based reference source in some very important ways. In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism.?  In other words, Wikipedia has hot spots and backwaters ? and while information in a hot spot is likely to be more correct than that from a backwater, how can one tell?

Your law librarians use Wikipedia as a jumping off point and that?s how you should use it, too. Wikipedia will frequently give you useful terms and concepts, which you can then take elsewhere in your search for reliable information. Having said that, you should be aware that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F.3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2004), cited to Wikipedia for the point that the Department of Homeland Security's threat advisory level ?has stood at yellow (elevated) for the majority of its time in existence. It has been raised to orange (high) six times." Perhaps the Court had no clerk able to find this information at the DHS website. In 2006, courts have cited to Wikipedia 46 times so far, according to a search of the ALLCASES database in Westlaw, rather than take the time to source the information cited.

If, in spite of this blog entry, you decide you really do want to cite to an article in Wikipedia, look here for citation formats and tips.

Posted by Mary McCormick

Full post as published by FSU College of Law Library Blog on December 07, 2006 (boomark / email).