Citing Wikipedia

Why shouldn't you cite Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is a tertiary source

Its articles are built from reliable, published sources, so academic work should generally cite those original sources rather than Wikipedia itself.

Wikipedia recommends using particular caution when citing it for research. Think of Wikipedia as an introduction to a topic and a springboard for further research.

Wikipedia is constantly changing

Remember that anyone can edit, delete or alter the information making it accurate or false. 

However, Wikipedia's editing process is highly transparent: changes can be checked, challenged, and corrected by other editors.

Vandalism remains an issue

Vandalism does still occur. About 7% of all edits are considered vandalism, but they are often detected and reverted quickly. Wikipedia articles are monitored by volunteer editors, and frequently targeted pages may be placed under additional protection.

Research by University of Glasgow researchers Alkharashi and Jose (2018) found that most vandalism they studied was reverted within five minutes.

Community reaction seemed to be immediate: most vandalisms were reverted within 5 mins on average

If you do cite Wikipedia 

If you do decide to cite Wikipedia, remember that articles are constantly changing.

Cite the specific version of the article you consulted, including the date and time, rather than simply linking to the current article. Using a permanent link to that version is the easiest way to do this.

Further resources

• Citing Wikipedia: further discussion
• University of Glasgow researchers Alkharashi, A. and Jose, J. (2018)
• What are permanent links?

© Ewan McAndrew and Hannah Rothmann, University of Edinburgh, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated.