Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
I don't know this for sure, but as far as I know it's not peer-reviewed at all. I often have students trying to use it as a scholarly source. (they're generally in for a shock!)
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Who is responsible for the articles on Wikipedia?
You are! Actually, you can even edit this very FAQ! As there are more than 2.34 million (2,340,000) other
Wikipedians, this is a
collaborative effort. Thousands of people have contributed information to different parts of this project, and anyone can do so, including you. All you need is to know
how to edit a page, and have some
encyclopedic knowledge you want to share. The encyclopedia provides users with a certain amount of freedom. You can learn who is responsible for the most recent versions of any given page by clicking on the "Page history" link. Nevertheless, if you spot an error in the latest revision of an article, you are highly encouraged to
be bold and correct it. This practice is one of the basic review mechanisms that maintains the reliability of the encyclopedia. As a result, Wikipedia has become one of the most extensive information libraries available on the Internet. If you are uncertain or find the wording confusing, quote the material on the associated
talk page and leave a question for the next person. This helps eliminate errors, inaccuracies, or misleading wording more quickly and is highly appreciated by the community.
How do you know if the information is correct?
As anyone can
edit any article, it is of course possible for biased, out of date, or incorrect information to be posted. However, because there are so many other people reading the articles and monitoring contributions using the
Recent Changes page, incorrect information is usually corrected quickly. Thus, the overall accuracy of the encyclopedia is improving all the time as it attracts more and more contributors. You are encouraged to help by correcting articles, validating content, and providing useful references. See
Wikipedia:Replies to common objections for a longer discussion of this point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Overview_FAQ