It’s an encyclopedia. That makes it a tertiary source. Just as a secondary source (book, journalism, and so on) should cite its primary sources, a tertiary source should cite its secondary sources. Yes, you should be able to source the origin of every assertion of fact.
Does Wikipedia allow someone to tag themselves as a primary source, or does it have to be published elsewhere first?
Like if someone had specific firsthand knowledge that Elvis preferred a certain brand of Peanut Butter, but that tidbit isn’t published anywhere, how would that work?
Sorry for not researching this stuff on my own, I’m just curious, but not curious enough to go figure it out on my own.
Very easy to answer that: no. This falls under the “No original research” rule. The information must be publicly available from a reputable source. If you had insider info about Elvis’s peanut butter you would need to write it up and get your article accepted by a recognized publication, basically.
Does every bit of info have a published source?
What sort of requirements does Wikipedia have for published info, I wonder. There’s a lot of wrong info published in books and online.
It’s an encyclopedia. That makes it a tertiary source. Just as a secondary source (book, journalism, and so on) should cite its primary sources, a tertiary source should cite its secondary sources. Yes, you should be able to source the origin of every assertion of fact.
Fair enough.
Does Wikipedia allow someone to tag themselves as a primary source, or does it have to be published elsewhere first?
Like if someone had specific firsthand knowledge that Elvis preferred a certain brand of Peanut Butter, but that tidbit isn’t published anywhere, how would that work?
Sorry for not researching this stuff on my own, I’m just curious, but not curious enough to go figure it out on my own.
Very easy to answer that: no. This falls under the “No original research” rule. The information must be publicly available from a reputable source. If you had insider info about Elvis’s peanut butter you would need to write it up and get your article accepted by a recognized publication, basically.
That’s really interesting, thanks.