Thread:VisualEditor/Feedback/NEW FEATURE: using Wikipedia for research

I suggest a link in the upper right hand corner that links to a page explaining how to get reliable information from WIKIPEDIA. On Wikipedia, moderators and editors try to maintain pages with footnotes citing sources to information (it's not always there, but we do our best). Students using Wikipedia do not really understand the value of the Wikipedia resource and how to use it. Wikipedia is like a clearing house for a wide range of ideas and concepts on a subject. Students can come to Wikipedia to get a broad conceptual range of what thoughts are on the subject, but they can not site Wikipedia, because it is not a first source. They need to follow the citations to find the first source on each idea they want to include in their research. We need to have a page that teaches people how to use Wikipedia for research. In my mind, the best way to use Wikipedia for research is to come to Wikipedia to gather all the thinking on the subject. As you gather the pertinent points for your research, you need to note the sources associated with the items you read. For items you think might be true but that have no citation, you need to seek out sources. From that point, you have to go to the original sources for the actual data and research. Students do not understand how to use Wikipedia properly and it would be very helpful if we trained them. I suggest a link in the upper right hand corner titled HOW TO USE WIKIPEDIA FOR RESEARCH. This link would go to a page that trained them on best practices. While we would all strive for Wikipedia to be so reliable that it could be cited, Wikipedia is really and open source knowledge base. In a way, being an open source knowledge base makes it more amazing than other knowledge bases. No one controlles what can be included and we all participate. By training students on best practices for research we help them learn how to use Wikipedia and we preserve it as an open source knowledge base and strengthen its significance.