MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The Middlebury College history department’s recent decision not to allow students to cite Wikipedia as a source in exams and papers continues to receive worldwide attention. Some of the articles, opinion pieces and blog entries got the facts right; many did not.
The latest: NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams" airs segment on the issue, featuring Middlebury faculty member Neil Waters. |
While the department did vote to restrict the use of the online encyclopedia as a source in course work, it did not suggest, as some reports had it, that students should be prevented from accessing Wikipedia or should not use it as a research tool. In fact, the department praised Wikipedia as “extraordinarily convenient and, for some general purposes, extremely useful.” In an interview with the New York Times, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said of the Middlebury policy, “I don't consider it as a negative thing at all. Basically, they are recommending exactly what we suggested — students shouldn't be citing encyclopedias. I would hope they wouldn't be citing Encyclopaedia Britannica, either.”
The attention to the issue on and off campus was the spark behind a discussion held at Middlebury College on February 26. You can now watch the debate online.
You can also read what the Middlebury Campus had to say.
Here's the resolution adopted by the history department:
"Whereas Wikipedia is extraordinarily convenient and, for some general purposes, extremely useful, it nonetheless suffers inevitably from inaccuracies deriving in large measure from its unique manner of compilation.
"Therefore be it resolved that students in all history classes be informed early in each term through additions to syllabi and to senior thesis instructions that:
"1) Students are responsible for the accuracy of information they provide, and they cannot point to Wikipedia or any similar source that may appear in the future to escape the consequences of errors.
"2) Wikipedia is not an acceptable citation, even though it may lead one to a citable source."
Below you'll find links to a few of the mentions this issue has received in the local, national and world press.
The New York Times (registration may be required)
The Manchester Guardian
The Chronicle of Higher Education (registration may be required)
Inside Higher Education
WCAX in Burlington, Vt.
The Burlington, Vt., Free Press
The Times Argus in Vermont
The Yale Daily News