Why should researchers use caution when accessing information from Wikipedia, online forums, and blogs?"

researchers should use caution when accessing information from Wikipedia, online forums and blogs.

In conducting research for homework or an academic paper, you are basically conducting a search for facts: little tidbits of truth that you will assemble and arrange in an organized fashion to make an original point or claim. Your responsibility as a researcher is to understand the difference between fact and fiction, as well as the difference between fact and opinion.

When beginning your next assignment that requires sources, consider the credibility of those sources before including them in your final project.

Here are some common sources to avoid; each of these may include opinions and works of fiction disguised as facts.

Blogs

As you know, anyone can publish a blog on the Internet. The problem with using a blog as a research source is there no way to know the credentials of many bloggers or to get an understanding of the writer’s level of expertise.

People often create blogs to give themselves a forum to express their views and opinions. And many of these people consult less than reliable sources to form their beliefs. You could use a blog for a quote, but never use a blog as a serious source of facts for a research paper.

Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone at any time. This means that any information it contains at any particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong. ... Wikipedia generally uses reliable secondary sources, which vet data from primary sources.

Same also goes with online forum

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