Global warming is a concerning topic that is often brought
up in today’s environmental concerns around the world. Many people are concerned with the earth’s
temperature that is continually rising and the possible effects that global
warming could have in years to come on our earth. Many people try and eliminate their carbon
footprint as much as possible by participating in numerous activities to try
and “save the earth”. When finding sufficient information on the topic of global
warming there are many places to search for information, however because it is
such a controversial topic that many people are very passionate about it is
difficult to pull the information out that matters and is accurate. The topic of global warming is so substantial
that there are numerous studies, conspiracy theories, videos, facts and
opinions that it is difficult to filter out what is reliable and
unreliable. If you are a person that is
looking for information about the issue, facts, and studies surrounding global
warming I do not suggest Wikipedia to be your first stop for information
regarding the topic. Wikipedia is not a
reliable source of information and this can be seen by looking at the talk page
that shows the Wikipedia information that people have corrected that may be
false, outdated, or not coming from a credible source.
When retrieving information the first place that people
think to look is the search engine Wikipedia.
To many this search engine provides the basic information that is
required in order to gain sufficient knowledge about a topic area. This does not seem unnatural seeing as
Wikipedia is a free search engine that provides over one million articles on
all topic areas (Royal, 140). However
the information that is posted on Wikipedia is often criticized for not being
credible because it is written not by professionals however it is posted by its
users. It is a site that is not credible
for gaining accurate information because of its lack of authority, because
anyone can edit the content within the page and should therefore not be used in
order to gain insight, facts or opinions on the topic of global warming
(Jensen, 1166).
I do not believe or recommend Wikipedia as a credible source
for gaining insight, facts or general information about the topic of global
warming because its page holds so much information that deals with scientific
facts that do not come from credible sources and facts are false. In our academic lives we have constantly been
reminded not to use Wikipedia as a source for information because it is
unreliable, so if you are searching for such a important topic like global
warming it is important to gain accurate information possibly from academic
journals or research web sites.
On the “talk” page located on Wikipedia’s global warming
page it is proof that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information as it
does not use credible sources when writing its content. For example the global warming Wikipedia
pages provides the information to its readers that greenhouse gases in 2010
reached a record high and these gases will linger in the atmosphere for years
to come. However a user states that this
information did not come from a credible academic source and however came from
a popular magazine. So when people are
trying to gain information about global warming and stumble upon this type of
information they may take it as the truth, not looking at where the information
originated from.
Also mentioned on the Wikipedia global warming talk page that
proves that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information is the lack of
experimentation or percentages to back up facts and/or opinions that are
stated. For example on the global
warming page it is mentioned that humans are the root cause of global warming because
of their activity. However there is no
experimentation or percentages to say how much humans are contributing to
global warming because obviously there are other causes than humans for global
warming like natural solar events.
Although Wikipedia does provide a lot of information on the
topic of global warming I believe that it should be taken with a grain of
salt. It is a great place to begin
research however it should not be the ending point. In order to gain sufficient, accurate
information about global warming it is important to make sure that the
information comes from a reliable academic source, especially if you are
looking for information when writing a paper.
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References
Royal,
C. & Kapila, D. (2009). What's on Wikipedia, and What's Not . . . ?:
Assessing Completeness of Information. Social Science Computer Review. 27, 1.
pp 138-148.
Jensen,
R. (2012). Military History on the Electronic Frontier: Wikipedia Fights the
War of 1812. Journal of Military History. 76, 1. pp 1165-1182
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