| You read wikipedia to get a broad understanding; you then follow the cites and check that they say what wikipedia claims they say then you use those cites, not wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academic_use http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=i... "Don't use wikipedia as a source" is very different from "use buzzfeed as a source". EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia > As with any source, especially one of unknown authorship, you should be wary and independently verify the accuracy of Wikipedia information if possible. For many purposes, but particularly in academia, Wikipedia may not be an acceptable source;[1] indeed, some professors and teachers may reject Wikipedia-sourced material completely.[2] This is especially true when it is used without corroboration. However, much of the content on Wikipedia is itself referenced, so an alternative is to cite the reliable source rather than the article itself. > We advise special caution when using Wikipedia as a source for research projects. Normal academic usage of Wikipedia and other encyclopedias is for getting the general facts of a problem and to gather keywords, references and bibliographical pointers, but not as a source in itself. Remember that Wikipedia is a wiki, which means that anyone in the world can edit an article, deleting accurate information or adding false information, which the reader may not recognize. |