Undergrads: Why can't I cite Wikipedia in my report?
I have created a new video aimed at convincing undergrads why they should not cite Wikipedia or other poor quality sources in their work. It is supposed to be quick, funny and engaging.
Comments welcome.
I have created a new video aimed at convincing undergrads why they should not cite Wikipedia or other poor quality sources in their work. It is supposed to be quick, funny and engaging.
Comments welcome.
2 comments:
Great video Phillip. I particularly liked the 'young student Phillip' with his hat on sidewards and the loud thud of the World Book Encyclopedia hitting the floor!
The confectionary - healthy food metaphor works well. You showed us the effect of candy (single source of information), but we didn't get to see the effect of the salad (varied/good quality information). It would have been good if you presented examples or referred to some of the different types of quality information sources students should use. These examples could include relevant industry journals or recommendations and reports from large well respected organisations students might be able to find at the library or online. That might help them to know what to put in their salad (if you know what I mean).
I'm not sure how far you want to go with the food/nutrition metaphor or if it works in this context, but I wonder if the food pyramid could be another interesting way of demonstrating how to use a healthy range of information sources. For example, reference Wikipedia in small amounts, reference "name of next best information source" moderately and then reference "name of best information source" the most. This all depends on an information source(s) that should be referenced the most of course!
:)
Hi Rowan!
I 100% agree with pretty much all you have said. The key message isn't the obvious one: "There's no excuse for student's stopping after 5 minutes of Google searching". You are right, I probably wouldn't want to stretch the metaphor too far - and in the classroom I'd probably get away with it. On YouTube I wanted it to be fast, Fast, & FAST!
The reason why students don't do proper research is that it's effort. It's a culture of "I'm not watching any video over 3 mins max" and instant reward. While you are correct, it's probably something you might do when you have their attention for sure. Hrrrmmmm, maybe a classroom brain storming game or something? There's some good ideas there!
-Phillip
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