Have you trusted Wikipedia when you needed resources about any topics? Do you think Wikipedia deserves to be one of the popular websites? I believe that Wikipedia is a web site that has become one of the most useful and biggest websites on the Internet because there are many causes. According to Jason Wolverton, “Launched Jan. 15, 2001, it is already the ninth most popular Web site in the United States, according to Alexa Internet, a company that monitors Web traffic” (2007, para.9). So, the causes are that Wikipedia helps researchers to get information very easily, contributes to spreading the information and knowledge, and allows everyone to write and discuss his opinions and subjects.
First of all, researchers might get information that they need in Wikipedia. Moreover, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that contains a lot of information. Thus, it assists students, teachers, and professors to gain information. John Gapper says that the common way that people use to obtain information is Wikipedia (2008). Furthermore, Wikipedia contributes to increasing the background of researchers in their subjects which they search in. And they can find so much information on so many different subjects. So, Wikipedia is considered one of the biggest resources that researchers use. “It found that Americans aged 25 to 34 in the sample named Wikipedia as the second most credible source for business information, after business magazines,” John Gapper said (2008, para.9). Finally, most researchers can’t dispense about Wikipedia to find information in their research.
Second, one of the benefits of Wikipedia is that it contributes to spreading new information and knowledge very quickly. We had found it difficult to spread new information to all world before Wikipedia is existed. However, Wikipedia facilitates this problem, and all people around the world have immediately received new information. Furthermore, we can get information in different languages such as Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic. That has made Wikipedia has become an international phenomenon. In short, Wikipedia is the biggest site to spread any information to many people around the world.
Finally, everyone can participate in Wikipedia either by writing or discussing any information or article. Of course, that contributes to disseminating many ideas for many people around the world, even a simple person who can’t spread his ideas to the world in traditional ways. In fact, Wikipedia assists to raise methods of civilized dialogue that many people around the world can share in. Jim Lengel says that all people are able to compose, eliminate or alter an article in Wikipedia, so it is a modern and extensive encyclopedia (2006). In addition, Wikipedia assists students and researchers to exercise out the writing and research articles. In the end, Wikipedia allows us to write our ideas where many people can comment on these ideas.
Many professors and academics believe that Wikipedia is not a trusted source because anyone can write articles and edit information anytime. However, these people are forgetting something important: researchers can extract information from Wikipedia, and then they should verify if the information is true. This procedure is easier against the search about information. Also, Wikipedia assists to give us general perception about the topic that we research in, especially when we don’t have any ideas about the topic. So, Wikipedia can help a person to find and discover many ideas about a topic that he needs to write about.
In conclusion, Wikipedia is a modern encyclopedia that contains a lot of information and has many benefits. Indeed, this site in the Internet helps students, teachers, researchers, workers, and academics to find a lot of information and many articles about their subjects that they need. Also, it contributes to spreading new information and knowledge around the world in different languages. And also it allows us to share our ideas, and many people can discuss them. Thus, I think that Wikipedia is one of the best sites in the Internet where many people can benefit from it.
Gapper, J. (2008, January 23). Wikipedia is popular but scary. Ft.com/gapperblog. Retrieved on June 5, 2009, from http://blogs.ft.come/gapperblog/2008/01/wikipedia-is-pohtml/.
Lengel, J. (2006, February 07). Authority. Teaching with Technology. Retrieved on June 5, 2009, from http://tinyurl.com/n5clt2
Wolverton, J. (2007, January 22). Wikipedia Wisdom, Valley Vanguard. Retrieved on June 5, 2009, from http://www.svsu.edu/clubs/vanguard/stories/1141
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