The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army - Polidicks

I use Citations in Wikipedia all the time and ace papers pretty easily in ENGL 111. It's a pretty good way to find information if you know how to use your sources properly.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;42469904]Your majority of teachers are generally of a generation that doesn't understand how to use the Internet however, so good luck with that.[/QUOTE] Sadly this hasn't been the case for a decade. Some of my professors at uni have steamaccounts for god's sake.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;42469904]Your majority of teachers are generally of a generation that doesn't understand how to use the Internet however, so good luck with that.[/QUOTE] a majority of teachers are from a generation where putting " before the . means you plagerised your entire paper, depending on which citation format their alma mater decided to follow. [editline]9th October 2013[/editline] true story.....

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;42469904]Your majority of teachers are generally of a generation that doesn't understand how to use the Internet however, so good luck with that.[/QUOTE] The last professor I spoke to that recommended against using Wikipedia had a long list of anime, pornography, and political soapbox articles as a counterargument, and the school had held a discussion about its demonstrable objectivity issues and the misleading focus citation-citing gives to a subject. The reason people call Wikipedia shit is because it's shit.

I wouldn't cite it, but I never doubt its accuracy - especially on popular articles. Just read some of the deletion discussions on the known hoaxes and the level of research the community puts in to get rid of bad information. Here's the deletion discussion for a fake town in the Czech Republic: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Hevst%C3%A4f[/url] They also have an entire wiki devoted to spotting shitty articles - here's one of my favorites: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MYSPACEBAND[/url]

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;42472056]The quality of libraries are not a universal constant[/QUOTE] Every college library has database access. If you don't even know how to get to that, then you're just an overall terrible student and probably ought to drop out.

I remember when I wrote my Final Year Project, I'd concoct an opinion about something, google my opinion and source the nearest article that agreed with me. I didn't do very well.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42474497]Every college library has database access. If you don't even know how to get to that, then you're just an overall terrible student and probably ought to drop out.[/QUOTE] Yes, telling people they shouldn't get an education because they do not know a piece of information that may not be something that is well distributed where he is, especially if he is at a community college or something. Brilliant, such a great way to educate the populace. Seriously though, if you can get multiple sources of the same piece of information that are reliable without going to a library, why bother even going to one? Unless the teacher requires a book or printed material for one of your sources, it can be quite the hassle to get one, especially if you can complete the report without it.

[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;42471288]All I do is copy from Wikipedia but change words to make it sound more personal to the way I write and speak. Never got called out on it, but I never got a A* for it because I am one of those who is straight to the point, I can't write 1,000 words when I could say it in 300, it's horrid.[/QUOTE] I hated college because of that. I hate page length requirements because like you said, I can't write a 1000 word essay or report. It ends up way smaller but with the same info. And all I got was this worthless piece of paper anyways...

[QUOTE=nagachief;42474568]I hated college because of that. I hate page length requirements because like you said, I can't write a 1000 word essay or report. It ends up way smaller but with the same info. And all I got was this worthless piece of paper anyways...[/QUOTE] A little thing I learned was finding ways of bumping up the word and paragraph count creatively. for example using the above sentence; One of several valuable skills I have learned throughout my continuing education to combat the increasingly high page requirements is quite simple at the core. The technique involves using overly large or drawn out ,but still fully acceptable, words and phrases to make the main idea both more interesting and take up much more space than is really necessary. Another trick is to never use a word repetitively, causing the reader to lose interest in the work, as this causes your grade to be lower usually. The final piece that is used is fluffing up the word count needlessly with words and additions that could be technically removed to shrink the essay, but since they are still relevant are still functional. Overall though the practice of increasing the space you use when displaying an idea simply comes down to that, practice. Explanation? If you can find a way to write a paragraph about something rather than a sentence, go for it. Also, don't be afraid of going back and fixing things, a stream of thought that is touched up on over the course of a week or 2 is always great, especially if you find a way to expand upon it at a later date.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;42469856]This is why you always check the citations and not the Wikipedia article itself. This is why schools should teach students to check for citations instead of just outright banning the use of Wikipedia.[/QUOTE] A lot of teachers and professors are. Some are still in the dark, though.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42474497]Every college library has database access. If you don't even know how to get to that, then you're just an overall terrible student and probably ought to drop out.[/QUOTE] omg u ownd me so hard i shuld just kil myself

[QUOTE=areolop;42469939]How to get through college and high school: Cite Wikipedia citations[/QUOTE] Yup. That's what I did. I just used Wiki as my source, cited Wiki's citations, and none of my teachers ever had a clue that I never actually opened a single book to do the report.[QUOTE=Ziron;42469960]You joke, but stuff Wikipedia articles cite are actually pretty good starting points for your own research on something.[/QUOTE] They also make it laughably easy to get through the boring buyswork reports English teachers like to hand out in high school that don't actually teach you anything you hadn't already learned in middle school. [QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42469963]If you're using wikipedia to look for sources and citations while in college, you're doing a shit job for your paper when you could use the college's library system.[/QUOTE] It's a shit job to use modern methods to reduce the amount of busywork you need to do without reducing the quality of the finished product? News to me. [editline]10th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=deadoon;42474548]Unless the teacher requires a book or printed material for one of your sources, it can be quite the hassle to get one, especially if you can complete the report without it.[/QUOTE] One of my English teachers insisted on that in high school. Happily for me Wikipedia also cited some print material as well :v:.

wow so apparently no one here has ever actually done a good research paper in their lives. you realize these terrible habits are going to bite you in the ass eventually, right? [editline]10th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=deadoon;42474629]A little thing I learned was finding ways of bumping up the word and paragraph count creatively. for example using the above sentence; One of several valuable skills I have learned throughout my continuing education to combat the increasingly high page requirements is quite simple at the core. The technique involves using overly large or drawn out ,but still fully acceptable, words and phrases to make the main idea both more interesting and take up much more space than is really necessary. Another trick is to never use a word repetitively, causing the reader to lose interest in the work, as this causes your grade to be lower usually. The final piece that is used is fluffing up the word count needlessly with words and additions that could be technically removed to shrink the essay, but since they are still relevant are still functional. Overall though the practice of increasing the space you use when displaying an idea simply comes down to that, practice. Explanation? If you can find a way to write a paragraph about something rather than a sentence, go for it. Also, don't be afraid of going back and fixing things, a stream of thought that is touched up on over the course of a week or 2 is always great, especially if you find a way to expand upon it at a later date.[/QUOTE] that is fucking dreadful writing and if you ever got a passing grade for it, you've been lied to.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42469963]If you're using wikipedia to look for sources and citations while in college, you're doing a shit job for your paper when you could use the college's library system.[/QUOTE] Nature did a study a while back which showed that, on average, Wikipedia had less serious errors per article than the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. You'd be doing yourself a DISSERVICE by not utilising a resource as easy to access as Wikipedia to check for sources for a paper. That's not to say you shouldn't ALSO use other sources but Wikipedia is a GREAT starting point.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;42469856]This is why you always check the citations and not the Wikipedia article itself. This is why schools should teach students to check for citations instead of just outright banning the use of Wikipedia.[/QUOTE] What School bans Wikipedia. That's pretty damn stupid.

[QUOTE=proch;42476623]What School bans Wikipedia. That's pretty damn stupid.[/QUOTE] Schools where they notice that a significant portion of the students are turning in assignments that clearly consist of dumbly copying stuff from Wikipedia articles instead of actually bothering to learn anything at all relating to the assignment. Not only is it plagiarism, it teaches atrocious and essentially useless research "skills".

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;42469856]This is why you always check the citations and not the Wikipedia article itself. This is why schools should teach students to check for citations instead of just outright banning the use of Wikipedia.[/QUOTE] All of my teachers preached source-criticism rather than banning of certain sources. (Norway) Works great, because instead of banning certain sources, you end up double checking the facts, even triple checking sometimes. You remember stuff better this way, atleast I do.