Library Skills: Wikipedia in Student Research
These websites are about information literacy, with particular emphasis on Wikipedia and its role in student research. There are interactive tutorials, articles, and ideas for class activities.
Grades
- 10,
- 11,
- 12
Links
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TeachersFirst "Wiki Walk-Through"
This professional resources explains the basics of wikis and provides ideas for projects for different grade levels and curriculum areas.
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Teaching Wikipedia as a Research Tool
Use this link to introduce students' in using Wikipedia as a research source by demonstrating the site's strengths and flaws.
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Questioning Authority: Evaluating Wikipedia Articles
This lesson involves students evaluating Wikipedia articles and considering the factors that make the articles' reliable.
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How Stuff Works: How Wikis Work
This site contains lots of information on wikis in general and Wikipedia in particular. Topics such as vandalism and edit wars are addressed. NOTE: This site contains ads.
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Wikipedia's Growth Comes With Concerns
Listen to this NPR broadcast about Wikipedia.
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Spreading Knowledge, the Wiki Way
This Washington Post article discusses Wikipedia in terms of content and editing process. Comparisons to traditional encyclopedias such as Britannica are made. NOTE: This site contains ads.
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Wikipedia: Information Literacy
This example of a Wikipedia entry is about information literacy.
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Short Form for Source Evaluation
This form provides a brief checklist for evaluating and properly citing online sources used in research.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
This interactive site describes the criteria for evaluation of a web resource, gives suggestions for successful searching, and has examples of credible and noncredible websites. There is also a bibliography.
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Information Literacy: Search Strategies
This index of online resources is organized to help people doing research choose the best search strategy for their particular needs. For when you need to go beyond Google and Wikipedia.
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Big 6 Skills
The Big 6 is an information literacy model. This site is about how to apply the Big 6 skill to internet research.
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eThemes Resource: Reference Resources Online
These sites include online dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, almanacs, telephone directories, and Internet searches to locate information. Also learn about primary sources and where to find them.
