• FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world
    4·
    27 days ago

    I’m lazy and have started treating wikipedia as a primary source. But if I’m quoting it to somebody else, I tend to look at the cited references to make sure I trust those.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      27 days ago

      🤓 Point of clarification: primary, secondary, and tertiary sources refer to the proximity to the original information, not to their reliability.

      • A primary source would be something like a study on a drug.
      • A secondary source would be something like a news article discussing the study or a meta-analysis collating a bunch of studies on that drug.
      • A tertiary source would be something like a Wikipedia article or a section of a textbook discussing the drug as a whole.

      Secondary and tertiary sources often comprise both the most reliable and unreliable sources. 🤓

      (Ik what you meant by “primary” lol)

      • FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world
        2·
        27 days ago

        I meant it exactly as your definitions. Academically. My fuck up was saying “as” instead of “equal to” or “like.” Hence me admitting how utterly lazy that is. I should also add irresponsible.