The single greatest use for Wikipedia I've ever seen...

[SimuLord]

I just spent the last hour writing a 1500-word paper for my management class. In the grading requirements, it said "cite at least four sources, one of which must be a magazine article and one of which must be a newspaper article, but other sources you are free to choose."

Well, where am I going to find a pile of magazines and newspapers at eight in the morning when I haven't started the paper yet and it's due at 11? Wikipedia, of course! Simply read the article about my topic (the paper was about Lance Armstrong and motivational theory), yank the quote, cite the source, and it ceases to be plagiarism because thanks to web archives, I did read the article! Just found it via the wiki is all. Maybe not ethical, but not against the rules---kind of like Lance Armstrong's alleged steroid use?

Citing a book I haven't read may have been a bit much, but I'd have done that anyway---back in my high school days I'd go to the library, find books on the subjects I had to write papers on, turn to a random page to find a quote out of context, then cite it. This is just a digital-age version.

(also, I make a point to cite at least one REALLY oddball source every time I write a paper. I've cited Cracked, TVTropes, and Zero Punctuation. For today's unorthodox source? I threw in a quote about "the dividing line between a live hero and a dead one is a sharp sword", used it as a metaphor for Lance Armstrong's oncologist, and cited the UESP article on Tun-Zeeus in my works cited page!)

For Discussion: Share your triumphant tales of academic bullshit! Dubious sources, "What, you wanted a citation!" moments, that sort of thing. And did you get away with it? (I once wrote a paper that had 14 TVTropes cites in the references section and got an A on it, including the Crazy Enough to Work trope!)

 

[Queen Michael]

I passed my entire English course by citing Shakespearian quotes that I'm not quite sure exist.

"The lady doth fake it, methinks."
Hamlet, act II, scene IV.

I used a quote from the comic book series Transmetropolitan. This was it: "Nobody does background checks anymore." And much later in the paper, I added a comment about how that's not quite what it said in the comic, and that the teacher grading it probably hadn't checked it, which just went to prove my point.

 

[Palademon]

You have just discovered the true use for Wikipedia? Congratz.
I once got a decent grade in English when doing a presentation on gaming, and when I was running through Arcade games my teacher kept going "I remember that!"

 

[ItsAPaul]

Other than using the same report for multiple courses (which doesn't work now since I'm quite a few hard drives down the line from that), can't say I've done something weird like that. Wikipedia's use of sources is more like a neat trick than completely fucking over the system.

 

[The Ambrosian]

Snip

Just done about 50% of my "Should Cannabis be legalised" coursework with this method.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I once had to write an argumentative paper about an original topic. The topic I ended up using? Games are art. She commented on how original the topic was, and I ended up getting an A for the assignment.

 

[scw55]

Wikipedia is great if you need a list of names.
I typed in "Bird Artists" today in Uni.
Got a large list. Though it did take a while to cross out names which the Libary had nothing on, but I came out with alot of good photocopies of stuff I needed.

 

[Okysho]

Awesome thing to do with Wiki.

Pick something. ANYTHING and see how many clicks it takes to get to Hitler

 

[Betancore]

I wrote some kind of persuasive essay on Romeo and Juliet, then derailed it to oblivion and started writing about Pink Floyd instead. I then replaced 'Pink Floyd' with 'Romeo and Juliet' because I was in a hurry to hand it in. It worked out pretty well, after a little editing. And I kind of bullshitted my way through most of this year - all of my geography/science assignments are just awesome rewrites of all my friends' work. It's awkward when I get higher marks than they do, though, since I didn't do most of the work. I just happen to be very good at rewording their assignments.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Well wiki citations can be a great place to start. I also like to find a big definitive book or article and look at the sources there.

 

[Top35]

Awesome thing to do with Wiki.

Pick something. ANYTHING and see how many clicks it takes to get to Hitler

From Bioware it takes 9 clicks. haha

OT: wiki is probably the single most awesome place to jump off from to find articles

 

[darthzew]

My favorite is one that spares me a trip to the library. Just go to Amazon.com and find a book about the topic you're researching. If you're lucky, the book will have a "search inside" option. Just use that and use a quote from there. It works every time.

 

[rees263]

(also, I make a point to cite at least one REALLY oddball source every time I write a paper. I've cited Cracked, TVTropes, and Zero Punctuation.

I'd love to know what you managed to use in these cases.

 

[The Bucket]

Awesome thing to do with Wiki.

Pick something. ANYTHING and see how many clicks it takes to get to Hitler

From Bioware it takes 9 clicks. haha

OT: wiki is probably the single most awesome place to jump off from to find articles

I made it in 3 clicks xD

As for academic brilliance, im an uncreative type so I dont have any stories. I knew a guy who basically took a sample write up folder we were shown, shoved a few more sheets in to make it on topic and turned it in. Did pretty darn good in it.

 

[Geekosaurus]

Awesome thing to do with Wiki.

Pick something. ANYTHING and see how many clicks it takes to get to Hitler

Or set two points and see who cam get from one to the other in the fewest clicks. College years well spent.