3.4 Finding background information in Wikipedia and Generative AI

You probably use Wikipedia often. It is a top result in many search engines that can offer good insight on a variety of topics. Despite what you may have been told about using it, it can actually serve as a helpful source of background information and references on a variety of topics.

Additionally, artificial intellegince, and especially generative AI (genAI), is an emerging research tool in modern society. There are many
different genAI tools, such as Chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini, and genAI is influencing many different fields, including education. While some professors or institutions do not advocate for using generated output as a source, it can be useful to find background information on a variety of different topics

Here are a few ways you can use Wikipedia and generative AI tools to help your research.

As a starting point

Wikipedia itself suggests using it as a starting point, not an end. It’s important to understand that your research can start at Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias but should not end there. Like any resource, having a variety of sources ensures a broad understanding of a subject and its various perspectives. Just relying on one resource can mean missing context, expanding topics, or even answers to your thesis. Wikipedia is a wonderful place to start when researching to get a broad understanding of a topic. Wikipedia is a source that lends itself to plain language so that many folks can understand. It can also be convenient for finding dates and timelines for historical events, or for outlining aspects of a topic you have not yet considered.

Similarly, genAI tools can also be a useful place to start your research. They can quickly generate background information when given a prompt. GenAI can make topics easier to understand by using simpler phrases or analogies, and these tools can often take background information and tailor it to your personal learning style so that you can better understand the topic you are researching.

For related information

Wikipedia can also help you understand how your research question fits into a broader topic. One of the great things about Wikipedia and online encyclopedias is that they are ever evolving and updating, incorporating a variety of perspectives and notes from all over the world. People can edit pages as events happen without waiting for printing and publishing. Mistakes or new information can be updated without the hassle of printing and publishing, allowing more current events to be covered and contributed to. Another one of Wikipedia’s strengths is that articles are often hyperlinked to one another to define terms, provide context, or clarify topics. These can help you explore the context of your topic, along with citations that contributors will make. While it may be tempting to skim the AI overviews and searches, it is vital to read these articles thoroughly to really understand these topics and the links the contributors have provided to guide understanding.

When prompted to do so, genAI does have the ability to generate keywords to search for similar information and suggest related topics. GenAI will group information together and organize it by topic–this can support you in finding connections between a variety of different topics. GenAI tools can also help you with research by helping to narrow down a research topic and suggest subtopics.

To find more sources

Finally, Wikipedia can be useful for finding references to reliable sources such as scholarly books and articles. Most articles have a list of linked references and notes that you can use to verify Wikipedia’s content. Once you have found adequate background information on your topic from Wikipedia, you can explore other scholarly and direct sources to get a more complete picture of your topic. Wikipedia often notes and clarifies whether an article lacks or needs more citations, alongside other notes to consider, such as potential bias or contributor limitations. It’s crucial that, when doing research, we look for possible biases or different perspectives on the matter.

Given Generative AI’s ability to search and synthesize information all over the web in a matter of seconds, it is also helpful in identifying
which sources could exemplify your research. AI can also help you find background information on authors or publishers to ensure that
it is indeed a reliable source. Finally, AI can also cross reference between sources to help rule out misinformation.

Don’t stop at Wikipedia or GenAI

While Wikipedia and Generative AI can serve as a useful tool when finding general information on a topic, students should not stop there when conducting research. For example, in Wikipedia, not all topics have the same amount of depth or coverage. Entries on popular issues, such as social networking, TV shows, and extreme sports, tend to have more detail. Though Wikipedia does contain entries on various academic topics, often with the same level of detail as traditional encyclopedias. These academic entries tend to be summaries and broad overviews because original research is deliberately excluded from Wikipedia. When you need more detailed subject knowledge, such as new theories, analyses, and interpretations to back up your projects, you would be better served by investigating scholarly materials such as journal articles and books rather than an encyclopedia. Relatedly, since generated AI output can be tailored information to fit a specific learning style, it can leave out important information, statistics, or details.

Wikipedia is a crowdsourced encyclopedia, which means anyone can create and edit content. This is both a strength and a weakness. One of the most fundamental ways the scholarly community decides the reliability and authority of information is by knowing the academic or professional credentials of authors. Wikipedia articles are usually signed only with a username or pseudonym. You cannot tell who the authors or editors are or what qualifies them to write or edit on the topic. This is where other online encyclopedias can be helpful, like Encyclopedia Britannica, where contributors are linked and offer biographies of their expertise and experience. Britannica can be another source of information with more professional editing, though it might lack a variety of articles and topics. Similarly, AI doesn’t always show where it is pulling summarized information from and it might be leaving out critical viewpoints from other scholars on the topic. Therefore, it is critical for students to further research the information pulled from Wikipedia or genAI tools.

It is also essential to know who is contributing to research, as it offers insight into the perspective and limitations of an author and their editors. Different people understand topics in a variety of ways that influence how they research, what questions are asked, and what results are interpreted. This is true of all research, especially for a community-managed resource like Wikipedia. Over 80% of Wikimedia contributors identify as male. Half of the contributors live in Europe, with only 1.5% based in Africa.^[1] How might this affect the articles that are created and edited, and the biases found within? What voices are contributing or being excluded, particularly as they relate to race, sex, gender, and other social issues? Keep this in mind as you are browsing Wikipedia. Just because there is no article about a specific topic yet, that does not mean it is not vital or deserving less focus.

Finally, using generative AI or Wikipedia as a main research method can also limit a student’s skills and creativity during research by stripping the research of the student’s perspective. Many institutions and teachers do not accept AI output or Wikipedia entries as a formal citation; therefore, it is important for students to still learn skills of analyzing, verifying, and citing sources. Students checking information given to them through generative AI  or Wiki entries also ensures that their research is more accurate and reliable.

Both the strengths and weaknesses stem from the fact that Wikipedia and genAI tools are open to anyone. Wikipedia has a large contributor base, and it relies on consensus to write articles. This allows authors more freedom to share information. Still, it also provides a platform for those with negative or exclusionary views, or even false information that may not be vetted by the scholarly community. This can come out through the use of genAI tools. Unless you yourself are already an expert on the topic you are reading about, there is no way to quickly verify the accuracy of a Wikipedia article or generated output without consulting other sources on the subject.