1. Navigating Wikipedia
and Wikipedia Articles
Wisely
The Unquiet Library
August 2012
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Image Source: Microsoft Clip Art Gallery Image

2. DO…
Use Wikipedia to learn the basic information about a
new subject or to build some basic background
knowledge. It is a starting point.
Use the information you find to then
discover/use alternate, more scholarly sources.
Assess all information in an article.
Source: http://libguides.tamuk.edu/content.php?pid=164882&sid=1390945&search_terms=evaluating+Wikipedia 2

3. DON’T…
Use Wikipedia as your only or primary
source of information.
Treat the information in the article as
authoritative facts.
Fail to investigate the source list at the end of
the article—this can be a “jumping off” point
for other possible sources.
Source: http://libguides.tamuk.edu/content.php?pid=164882&sid=1390945&search_terms=evaluating+Wikipedia 3

4. Featured Content
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5. Featured articles are considered to
be the best articles Wikipedia has
to offer as determined
by Wikipedia's editors
A small bronze star icon () on the
top right corner of an article's page
indicates that the article is featured
Articles are evaluated for accuracy,
neutrality, completeness, and style
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6. Anatomy of Wikipedia Articles
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7. See also
References
Further Reading
External Links
Date Published or Updated
Cleanup Notes
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8. Article Section: See Also
Provides a list additional articles in Wikipedia
for reading and investigation
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9. Article Section: References
A list web and print resources referenced in
this article
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10. Article Section: Further
Reading
A section of suggestions for additional reading
outside of Wikipedia
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11. Article Section: External Links
A list of suggested web links to browse outside
of Wikipedia
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12. NOTE: all external sources and links should
be evaluated for accuracy and credibility;
their inclusion does not automatically mean
they are trustworthy sources of information.
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13. Date Published or Updated
suggested web links to browse outside of
Wikipedia
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14. Cleanup Templates/Notes
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17. Talk Tab of an Article
A discussion of issues
and/or history of the
article
A place to see the
“grade” or evaluation
of the article from
Wikipedia editors
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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Grading_scheme

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22. View the History of an Article
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23. The revision history statistics can
show us interesting editorial data
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25. CC image via
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xjrlokix/5097846224/si
zes/l/in/photostream/ 25

26. Q&A
Q&A
CC image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/f-oxymoron/5005673112/sizes/l/in/faves-10557450@N04/ 26