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Wikipedia Has Become a Science Reference Source Even Though Scientists Don't Cite it (sciencenews.org)
Bethany Brookshire, writing for Science News: Wikipedia is a gold mine for science fans, science bloggers and scientists alike. But even though scientists use Wikipedia, they don't tend to admit it. The site rarely ends up in a paper's citations as the source of, say, the history of the gut-brain axis or the chemical formula for polyvinyl chloride. But scientists are browsing Wikipedia just like everyone else. A recent analysis found that Wikipedia stays up-to-date on the latest research -- and vocabulary from those Wikipedia articles finds its way into scientific papers. The results don't just reveal the Wiki-habits of the ivory tower. They also show that the free, widely available information source is playing a role in research progress, especially in poorer countries.
Left hand navigation pane --> Tools --> Permanent Link. Click that and you will get a link to that specific revision of the page. Here is the permanent link to the entry as of now for the Falcon Heavy Rocket. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/ind...
You cite a particular revision of the page. For example, for PVC if you wanted an old revision: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polyvinyl_chloride&oldid=802948163. The history page exists for a reason.
Actually, Wikipedia considers itself to be a tertiary source, but the basic point of drilling back to the best available starting point is exactly correct.
Wikipedia has explicit instructions on this topic.
Mike O'Donnell
Mike O'Donnell http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~odonnell/
Wikipedia is an Encyclopedia. By definition it musn't have original content.
Precisely, which is why it shouldn't be cited. Everyone is making this about wikipedia, but the same rule has always been applied: you don't use an encyclopedia as references to cite. You use primary sources.
That doesn't mean encyclopedias aren't useful, or that they shouldn't be used. You want to use them as your first stop, so you can learn enough to know where to focus your research.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
Except you can cite a specific wiki state which would allow someone checking sources to not only verify it but also see if the body of knowledge has changed since it was written.