Things You'll Need:
- Computer with Internet access
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Step 1
Understand the importance of verifying Wikipedia's content with other sources. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia using content from contributors from around the world, and may not be as reliable as printed encyclopedias.
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Step 2
Open the Wikipedia 'Main Page' in your browser window (see the Resources section below). Enter the research terminology in the 'Search' box, and choose 'Go' or 'Search.' Hitting 'Go' takes you directly to the article with the title you specified (if one exists). Hitting 'Search' takes you to a list of articles ranked by relevance.
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Step 1
Open the article of choice and examine its history by clicking on the 'History' tab. Compare the current article with changes that have been recorded from previous versions of the article.
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Step 2
Check out the 'External Links' at the end of each article. For more information on a topic, click on the hyperlinks.
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Step 3
Compare information from 'External Links' to the Wikipedia content to verify its accuracy.
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Step 4
Click on the 'Discussion' tab on any article to view the latest comments regarding changes in content.
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Step 5
Report any discrepancies in information via the 'Talk' page accessed under the 'Discussion' tab.
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Step 6
Know that all words highlighted in blue within the content are linked to an article with similar content or another Wikipedia page. Click on a word to access the additional information.
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Step 7
Take advantage of the browsing bar on the Main Page for access to information on a broad range of subjects. Each link opens a list of links by which you can expand your research on specific topics.
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Step 1
Take advantage of the resources in the 'See Also' section of the article contents for more extensive research.
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Step 2
Visit the 'Researching With Wikipedia' link for more information on the best methods of finding resources (see Resources below). Click 'Help' on the Main Page, and then click on 'Browsing Wikipedia' followed by 'Do Research Using Wikipedia.'
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Step 3
Bookmark reference pages for quick return during research.
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Step 4
Click on 'Printable Version' from the 'Toolbox' for a clean copy of an article.
