Reading through your research plans this week, I’ve noticed that several people have listed newspapers or magazines for their sources. While it is not inappropriate to use some information derived from periodicals for your papers, please note that newspapers, magazines and general-interest web sites do no qualify as “indisputably academic” sources.

If you haven’t yet reviewed this post from last week, please do so in advance of turning in the first draft of Project 1 this week. Also, you may also find this resource from Cornell University useful.

For more info on what constitutes “academic sources,” please review this short web page from Mid Michigan Community College (link).

Instead of writing a blog post, just answer below. You only have 140 characters, so be concise.

marshabarsha:

I find it to be a good starting point, for example if I were researching Louis Armstrong I would first visit his wikipedia page to find a starting point for research.

Marsha’s makes a good point here. Wikipedia should not be used as an academic source in your research projects, but it’s perfectly fine to use as a starting point for more traditionally acceptable research. Often times, as Marsha states, the sources that can be found at the bottom of most Wikipedia articles are links to legitimate academic sources that you can use.

Read the New York Times article linked above. Given what you learned about academic sources in Composition 1101 (or other courses), what role — if any — should Wikipedia play in academic research?

Post your response to your blog and paste the permalink to your post below this post for credit.

Due Date: Friday before midnight. 
Length: ??? <—— Click.