(iverson's) currentbuzz: A History Department Bans Citing Wikipedia as a Research Source

Another Middlebury professor, Thomas Beyer, of the Russian department, said, “I guess I am not terribly impressed by anyone citing an encyclopedia as a reference point, but I am not against using it as a starting point.”

Source: nytimes.com

If you use the Wikipedia as your stopping point, you don't understand it at all. As this other prof notes, starting with Wikipedia or any encyclopedia is a good way to get a quick scouting of a topic area.

But just as when we drive, and we compare what the map shows us with what is out in the real world, so I tell my students to find at least three other sources to compare and analyze what Wikipedia says. In social science research one of the only ways to move toward establishing principles based on research is to "triangulate" and get a bead on the truth by verifing it from different directions and perspectives.

I also urge my students to correct a wiki entry if they can establish that it is false.