Need background information or a quick summary of a person, place, event, or topic? Try one of these authoritative sources written by academic scholars and other "experts":
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War by 
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History by 
The Elements of Style by  Image from wikipedia |
Wikipedia is fine for popular / current topics when it isn't critical to know who the "authority" is behind the information. But for an academic paper, you normally don't want to use (and thus cite) anything that isn't authoritative. For academic work, you should use scholarly reference works written by experts and verified by editiorial review. Best practice with wikipedia - go to the source cited and evaluate whether the source is reliable, authoritative, current, and not unduly biased by a particular perspective. |