: Re: Is Wikipedia Trustworthy? So in elementary school, I was told not to use Wikipedia too much because you can't trust what they write. So then for all the projects, I used the Canadian Encyclopedia,

@Heady158

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Very late, but here's a couple of points:

Read Wikipedia's own warnings. Banners at the top will say things like "lacks sufficient sources" or "has peacock writing". These are flags that something is not right.
Check the talk page. If there's edit warring going on, approach the current revision with a grain of salt.
Look at the amount and quality of sources. If there are a lot of sources that are of decent quality (i.e., no tabloids, or other such nonsense) you're probably good to go.
Check the grammar. If it's sloppily written, that's a bad sign - an editor hasn't gotten around to it to clean up.

If the article passes all these checks, it is very likely that it's good to go. See for example the article cited by another answerer - these good articles are just as good as those in a normal encyclopedia.

Let me next address your questions about peer review. Currently, an experiment at Wikipedia means that there are some restrictions on who can create articles, and all new articles (both those created as drafts by new users and those created directly on the site) are reviewed, though there are currently backlogs.

Edit: As of a few weeks ago this has been put permanently in place. All unregistered users cannot create new articles and must do so as drafts.

Returning to your regularly scheduled program answer...

As for edits, tons of users constantly scan for vandalism - a lot of the most egregious stuff is reverted almost instantly. Not every edit is individually reviewed, necessarily, but I'd guess that due to the level of effort put toward vandalism patrol, quite a few are. Further, since there are WikiProjects and tons of users who simply love a subject, articles are frequently read and checked by experts and enthusiasts.

I might recommend checking out Wikipedia for yourself - by which I mean, try editing Wikipedia. Create an account, learn the policies. See how it all ticks. I did, and have enjoyed it (and also learned a lot about both Wikipedia and all sorts of interesting subjects) and it has certainly increased my awareness of how good the info I get from Wikipedia is, and how to judge when it isn't good.

Hope this helps!

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