Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers. The official app is published by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organisation, and it contains no advertising.

Useful features

• Reading lists let you save articles and read them later, including offline.
• Search works in many languages, and you can switch an article to another language version.
• Pictures and reference lists appear within each article.

Using it well

Treat Wikipedia as a starting point. Open the references at the bottom of an article to check where a claim comes from, and note that articles on recent events can change quickly. For schoolwork, cite the original sources, not just Wikipedia. Students can pair it with Khan Academy for structured lessons.

Our verdict

Wikipedia is a very good starting point and a poor final source. Use the summary to get oriented, then open the references at the bottom to find the original sources. For fast-moving topics, check the last edit date, and for medical or legal matters use official sources.

Using Wikipedia as a research starting point

• Read the introduction for orientation, then open the references at the bottom to check where claims come from.
• Look at the Talk page and the page history if a topic is disputed or changing fast.
• Switch to another language version of the same article to see how different communities describe a subject.
• For health, law or money, confirm facts with official sources before you act on them.

Short answers

Can I cite Wikipedia for school work? It is better to cite the original sources it links to.

Is the official app free of ads? Yes. The official app is published by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and has no advertising.

In practice: A student researching a school project reads the article for the overview, then opens two of the references at the bottom to confirm facts before writing anything in their own words.

Read next

For structured lessons, try Khan Academy. For translations and language pairs, see Google Translate.