Wikipedia or not?

Perhaps too, it is opportune for the institution to consider a common policy across all schools regarding the use of the Wikipedia as a reference for research. Like it or not, Wikipedia is widely used by students and probably by staff as well. A possible stance is to allow the use of Wikipedia as a starting point for research, and require that its sources of information should be cross-checked for authenticity. In addition, students could be instructed specifically that they need to go beyond Wikipedia, say, make it mandatory that three other sources of information should be cited and from a variety of sources, for example, a book, a website and a journal. This could be worked into the marking rubrics so students know what our expectations are.

Providing students with some guidance on research methods (a start-of-academic year-session on how to use library resources like how to find relevant books, news archives, journals, e-databases, e-books, etc, as well as a helpdesk or hotline to provide guidance on a just-in-time need basis, or online quizzes / games / video tutorials on IL to raise awareness like http://library.uncg.edu/game/ or http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/tutorials/voyager/index.html) would go a long way towards ensuring that students do not just rely on Wikipedia as a quick source of information, but go beyond it. However, a one-off session is unlikely to be helpful, as students may not take these library sessions seriously until they see a need to do research. As such, to hone information literacy skills, librarians and teaching staff need to work together, by infusing it within the curriculum throughout all three years of their education at the institution, starting from year 1.