Is Wikipedia Legit?

Personally, I think Wikipedia is a legitimate source to use for information. Although, as students, we don't necessarily use it in college term papers, we still refer to it for its links and references to scholarly Web sites and journal articles. I came across another blog post that agreed with my viewpoint on the use of Wikipedia, particularly in academia.

Whenever I search something on Google, the first link that pops up is Wikipedia. I can quickly look at a brief description and get information on what I was looking for. If I feel like I need more, then I can refer to the links referenced in the article.

Isn't that what people are looking for? Short-hand, accurate versions of information presented to them? Wikipedia has been exactly that for me.

As this article from Mashable proposes, there should be a system that determines how reliable information on Wikipedia is based on a color scale. This can pave the way for professors to allow students to use Wikipedia as sources based on how trustworthy the information they are receving actually is.

Image used with permission of Creative Commons