Back in my days in high school geometry class, proofs weren't my thing. But seeing as I've grown in age and wisdom (though not in height), I'm going to try one now:
Given: Wikipedia
Prove: It is a valid source.
Well, this is pretty much the easiest proof ever.
Wikipedia has a liberal bias. Anything that has a liberal bias must be The Media. How can Wikipedia have a liberal bias when it's edited by anyone? Well, it must. Check out Conservapedia for the Fox-type answer to Wiki.
So point A – Wikipedia is The Media.
My proof works about as well as the world is flat theory.
Point B – "Several studies suggest that articles in Wikipedia are of a similar order of accuracy and similar rates of both serious and minor errors to Encyclopædia Britannica, that it provides a good starting point for research, and that articles are in general reasonably sound."*
Thus, Wikipedia is just like Encyclopedia Britannica and must be reliable.
Therefore, if Wikipedia is The Media and it is Reliable, it must be a valid source! Done. Take that, every teacher and professor that I've ever had!
FINE TEXT:
Very little actual research was done in the writing of this article. However, this is a blog and I can post whatever I want to it, which lets me pose my opinions as facts without reference. Of course, if I wanted to look like I knew what I was talking about I could just have a long list of footnotes, which people might or might not follow. Footnotes are reassuring.
If I had actually done research for this article, I might have found that Wikipedia has certain rules for articles: they must have a neutral viewpoint, contain no original research and be verifiable. Although according to Wikipedia, "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth."
WARNING: Wikipedia must conform to Florida laws so do not under any circumstances use it to vote.
WARNING: The research for this article only involved looking at Wikipedia.
P.S. The creator of Wikipedia likes to refer to himself as Jimbo. Every time you feel the urge to cite Wikipedia start out the sentence, "According to Jimbo, creator of Wikipedia, …"
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* Reliability of Wikipedia
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