Editing Wikipedia

I've always used Wikipedia as a starting point for almost every kind of research I've ever done. I would never cite it in a paper of any kind because I know that the information could not be reliable. Not once did I ever wonder why everyone says Wikipedia can be unreliable I just assumed it was. I didn't realize until the Wikipedia assignment in my ALES 204 class that the information on Wikipedia is from the everyday average person. Editing Wikipedia is possible! Mind = Blown! Every now and then I'll see little mistakes on Wikipedia that drive me crazy, now I know that I have the power to change them! Spelling mistake? I don't think so! Now I understand why no one ever references Wikipedia. Anyone from anywhere can put whatever information they want.


Jayden MacPherson (personal collection, Nov 11, 2011)



My ALES 204 class assignment for Wikipedia was to find a stub that needed to be edited and edit it. Of all the stubs I could have chosen I probably chose the worst one! I chose to edit "dog leukocyte antigen" because veterinary medicine is my field of interest and the stub had absolutely nothing written for it. It turns out that there is hardly anything out there about dog leukocyte antigens. To find information I had to read through journals meant specifically for other scientists who knew all the lingo which I am not. Although I can now say that I now what the dog leukocyte antigen is. Do you?





After completing this assignment I feel that I need to thank the wonderful Libraries of the University of Alberta for being so darn awesome and helpful. It should have took me forever to find journal articles on the mysterious dog leukocyte antigen but it didn't. If you know how to search it takes seconds to find what you need... then you have to read it. I also need to thank RefWorks for saving me from insanity. I read through about ten extensive journal articles and made a bibliography for all of them in seconds. I literally said "WOOHOO" and danced a little when that word document with perfect APA citations opened. So thank you, for keeping me sane when I definitely would have lost my mind.

Other ALES 204 students have blogged about this assignment. Here are two to check out, Julie's and Larkin's.