Wiki-History?

In 2007 Dartmouth College somewhat famously instituted a no Wikipedia academic policy.  After headed debate, Dartmouth faculty concluded that Wikipedia is not a credible academic source, and therefore should not be cited in academic papers by their students. 

The Dartmouth College citation guide reads:

Many students begin their research using Wikipedia. Although Wikipedia may be useful in providing a general overview of a topic—helping you to get your bearings, be certain of facts, or define some basic terms—it is not scholarly. You will need to find academic sources for your research, since the scholarly conversation is not taking place on Wikipedia.

I am inclined to agree with Dartmouth.   Take a look at the Wiki entry for the Protestant Reformation.  Do you know anything about the Protestant Reformation?  If not, how helpful is this entry?  It begins with this information, "The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century [sic] schism within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other Protestants."  Seems legit, right? 

Well what if I told you that the Protestant Reformation actually began around 1250 CE? In his monograph The Age of Reform, Steven Ozment, McClean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard, argues the Protestant Reformation actually started in the 13th century--and most Religious Studies scholars agree with him.

What if I told you "Protestant" isn't one thing?  It isn't, by the way.  To grossly over simplify a complex issue, Protestant just means "not Catholic."  Now how many different kinds of "not Catholic" churches can you think of off the top of your head?  Probably a lot.  There wasn't one reformation.  The Protestant Reformation was actually a series of several mini-reformations. 

Want to know something else that you're not getting from this entry?  Martin Luther did not actually want people to stop being Catholic.  Luther was a Catholic monk and he remained loyal to the Church right up until the day he died.  He wanted the Church (capital C--big Church--THE one Church) to reform itself from the inside--to fix its own problems.  He did not want people to start creating new kinds of churches or to turn away from the Church, big C, the one Church he really believed in.  That was a somewhat unexpected consequence of his 95 Theses. 

Now that's not the only issue with this entry.  Click the view history tab.  Here's a screen shot for you:

Now look at the third entry down. Do you see what was changed on September 25, 2012?  User Shuipzv3 edited the entry to read "Martin Luther" where it had previously read "Martin Luther King Jr."  So if you looked at the Wikipedia entry for Protestant Reformation just two days ago it would have told you that Martin Luther King, Jr. was responsible for the Protestant Reformation.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was obviously not even alive during the Protestant Reformation.  Nor, by the way, was he from Germany.  He was, however, Protestant, so I guess that's something. 

I never use Wikipedia.  NEVER.  I know a lot of people say that and then use Wikipedia for a quick internet search on information, but I really don't ever use it.  I suppose it could be a good starting point for research as many Wiki-entries do contain a list of references that could be useful.  I, however, much prefer to find academic sources that I can trust to be reliable.  I do turn to Google when I need quick, factual information.  However, I use search parameters that will bring up educational sources. If I were going to Google the Protestant Reformation I would type in "Protestant Reformation + .edu OR .org"  This kind of search usually makes it easier to locate academic sources on the net.

I wish you happy and intelligent internet searching, and I hope you'll be conscientious of the sources you choose to accept as valid and reliable.