When you first go to google search any topic you may be interested in, you won't be surprised to see that Wikipedia is one of the first sources that pops up. However, throughout many of our own past schooling experience, we have been told to never trust Wikipedia. More specifically, it's just a source that isn't trust worthy enough, as anyone can go and write on a Wikipedia page. And while it is true that Wikipedia pages are often easily edited, they may still provide some usefulness, and here's why.
First off, Wikipedia can be a great source used to find other primary sources related to your topic of choice. If one chooses to not want to use information that is directly on the page, they can instead go to the many listed sources given within the page, and use those sources instead! This also allows for those using information listed on the page with links to go check the validity of the sources used!
Second, Wikipedia pages are actually given a grade on how accurate and reliable they are, and these ratings can be used to let readers know whether or not all information in the page can be trusted! This can be done by going into the talk tab of the page, then looking at the rating of the page. You can then look at the table given to see the reliability of the Wikipedia page!
Overall, when given the proper means of how to navigate and understand Wikipedia, it can actually be a great source to increase ones understanding of a topic! I hope this is better communicated in schools as we see in increase in technology use in the classroom.
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