After one of the top liberal-arts colleges in the country decided to ban Wikipedia from history research citations, GW isn't planning on following suit.
History professors at Middlebury College, a liberal-arts school in Vermont, unanimously voted in January to prohibit students from using the online encyclopedia for anything more than background research. GW History Department Chairman Tyler Anbinder said such drastic action is not likely at GW. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia on the Internet that any user can update or edit.
"I sincerely doubt the GW History Department will be making a rule like (Middlebury's), because the assignments that our faculty members give don't really lend themselves to much use of Wikipedia," Anbinder said.
The department chair and professor said he requires his students to use primary sources from the era they are studying, which means Wikipedia use is never allowed.
Anbinder said students aren't the only ones lazily using the site. Some professors rely too much on Wikipedia for lectures, he said.
"It can be a crutch at times for faculty as well as students," he said. "Wikipedia is so easy to get and so easy to use that people tend to rely on it more than they should."
Increasing reports of Wikipedia-fueled misinformation in student papers caused the Middlebury vote, said the school's History Department Chair Don Wyatt. The department officially required that the Wikipedia ban be included in the syllabus of every history class.
Wyatt said that while he supported the initial ban of citations, he was unwilling to denounce the Web site entirely.
"My colleagues and I would really be among the first to go on the record saying that Wikipedia should be used, but users should recognize its strengths and its deficits," he said.
He said the benefits of the online resource include up-to-date bibliographies and general knowledge on unfamiliar topics. Despite these, Wyatt said the site is too unregulated to be used as a primary source.
History professors at Middlebury College, a liberal-arts school in Vermont, unanimously voted in January to prohibit students from using the online encyclopedia for anything more than background research. GW History Department Chairman Tyler Anbinder said such drastic action is not likely at GW. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia on the Internet that any user can update or edit.
"I sincerely doubt the GW History Department will be making a rule like (Middlebury's), because the assignments that our faculty members give don't really lend themselves to much use of Wikipedia," Anbinder said.
The department chair and professor said he requires his students to use primary sources from the era they are studying, which means Wikipedia use is never allowed.
Anbinder said students aren't the only ones lazily using the site. Some professors rely too much on Wikipedia for lectures, he said.
"It can be a crutch at times for faculty as well as students," he said. "Wikipedia is so easy to get and so easy to use that people tend to rely on it more than they should."
Increasing reports of Wikipedia-fueled misinformation in student papers caused the Middlebury vote, said the school's History Department Chair Don Wyatt. The department officially required that the Wikipedia ban be included in the syllabus of every history class.
Wyatt said that while he supported the initial ban of citations, he was unwilling to denounce the Web site entirely.
"My colleagues and I would really be among the first to go on the record saying that Wikipedia should be used, but users should recognize its strengths and its deficits," he said.
He said the benefits of the online resource include up-to-date bibliographies and general knowledge on unfamiliar topics. Despite these, Wyatt said the site is too unregulated to be used as a primary source.
