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Researching on wikipedia

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Started 3 years ago by awelch
Latest reply from MetroCity1

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awelch
Member

Hi I'm writing a travel book about a bike ride from England to Georgia as part of a series of books about a roudn the world trip.

I came across a lot of interesting threads - history and culture and I've been using the internet to research further into these threads. Mostly to give a little bit of background on a person, place or philosophy.

I'm writing in the Republic of Georgia in Tbilisi. I want to write my book to help me to continue to fund my travel. So far I've gone from England to India and Nepal. In October 2010 I want to leave to cross China and tour in America and complete my world tour with my girlfriend.

My question is that, because I don't have access to many books here, I'm using the internet for research 100%. Is that advisable and how do I reference the information sources in the book.

Thanks

Andy Welch

Posted 3 years ago #
Trisha Miller
Administrator

Hi Andy - welcome back!

I do think it's fine to use the internet for your research, as long as you're careful which sites you use (I'm sure you will be!). For the most part, Wikipedia is a pretty good source of information, and is considered to be one of the most reliable sites for accuracy. Keep in mind that Wikipedia has several different pages on the country and republic of Georgia, so you may want to search with different terms to find them all and cross-reference between them.

I would suggest that you supplement that with a few "official" sites, such as the CIA World Fact Book (a very reliable source in my opinion), the American Friends of Georgia (another good site for reliable information), and also that you contact both the Embassy of Georgia in the US, and the US Embassy in Georgia for more direction on sources of reliable and accurate information.

Good luck with your book! Be sure to drop us a note when it's ready as we'd love to help you promote it......it sounds like it will be an interesting read!

Posted 3 years ago #
Amandah Blackwell
Moderator

I have a different take on Wiki. I say be careful with using the internet. Yes, Wikipedia is slowly becoming more acceptable; however, there have been MANY mistakes found on these sites. In fact, Shane, a student from Dublin, Ireland posted a "quote" on a Wiki supposedly from famous French composer Maurice Jarre who died in March. In fact, newspapers used the quote that he posted. Guess what? The quote was a BOGUS quote. Shane posted the quote because he was researching "globalization" and its affect on the world. Read the full story here.

When I was working on my Masters degree, we were cautioned about "sourcing" anything from Wiki. It's best to gather your resources by researching at libraries and using the internet -- use all resources. Be careful when it comes to using information from the internet. If I find information on the internet, I research it until I am satisfied that the information is accurate. This means going to as many sites as possible and checking in with the library.

Good luck!

Posted 3 years ago #
MetroCity1
Member

Yeah, gotta be careful with Wiki...sometimes it's spot on and sometimes it's not

Posted 3 years ago #

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