Wikis
Wikipedia Entry
The term "wiki" comes from the Hawaiian phrase, "wiki wiki," which means "very fast." The term has been adopted to describe a type of website in which each item of content may be edited by a collaboration of of different authors.
This means that a single article on a wiki may have thousands of authors! With so many authors making a contribution, the articles can very quickly develop.
The most popular wiki is 'Wikipedia'. Since its creation in 2001, it has grown into one of the world's largest reference websites, containing over 48 million articles that are maintained by over 70,000 contributors.
If you intend to use information from a wiki to support your learning, you should take care to evaluate the accuracy of that information.
Wiki entries are often updated and older versions are archived.
The APA advises that students should, where possible, cite an archived version of a Wiki, so that that readers can retrieve the exact version cited. You may access an archived version of a Wiki by selecting “View history”.
If a wiki does not provide permanent links to archived versions, then simply include the URL for the entry and a retrieval date.
Example
In-text reference
| During the time of the Industrial Revolution, Wigan developed into a major coal mining district and at its peak there were a thousand pit shafts within five miles of the town centre ("Wigan," 2020). |
Full reference for the Reference List
|
Wigan. (2020, March 11). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? |