Wikipedia Jump-Starts Your Research

Wikipedia

One of my clients mentioned Wikipedia to me the other day. He had just discovered it, and although I have used Wikipedia for quite some time, I realized that I'd never recommended it to my readers!

Wikipedia is a free source online encyclopedia. It has over 1,000,000 articles in many languages on different topics, linking to each other by hyperlinking terms within articles. There are over 700,000 English articles, and approximately 1500 English articles are added every single day... and 5000 per day over the entire project.

For those of you who are new to wikis, here’s the definition: "a collaborative Web site set up to allow user editing and adding of content." The term comes from the Hawaiian word "wiki wiki," which means "quick." It may seem a bit strange to value a Web site that any user can edit or add to. But wikis have the great benefit of collaborative polishing and quick updating. In our world that is changing so quickly, that can allow us to get the most up-to-date information very quickly. In addition, because its users make it so large and comprehensive, it's easy to get information on some of the most obscure topics. Although I wouldn't suggest that Wikipedia become your only source for research, it can certainly be a first that can start you on an exciting journey.

Links:

• Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org
• The strengths of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Why_Wikipedia_is_so_great
• Replies to common objections: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Replies_to_common_objections
• Toolbars or search tools:
  
  • Wikipedia Toolbar for Internet Explorer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiSearch_Toolbar
  
  
  • Wikipedia Toolbar for Mozilla Firefox: http://wikipedia.mozdev.org/
  
  
  • Or simply add Wikipedia to your Mozilla Firefox search box: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central#central-engines