A note on citing Wikipedia...

Wed Dec 07 2005 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

open source

I encourage citing good Wikipedia articles in student papers (court opinions or legal complaints are another matter)... however, it must be done correctly and conscious of the fact that Wikipedia assertions should be double-checked like with any secondary source.

So, if you want to cite a Wikipedia article in a work of yours, I beg you to read the following page: "Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia". For example, if I want to cite the (soon to be featured) article on "Voting System". I do the following:

Go to the article you wish to cite.
Click on the "Cite this article" link on the left-hand menu bar.
Pick one of the canned citation formats (MLA, ABA, Bluebook, etc.)
Make sure that the URL you cite is not in this form but in this form.

This will ensure that your audience will be able to see the version you saw and what has changed since.