Wikipedia in Court: When and How Citing Wikipedia and Other Consensus Websites Is Appropriate

(Excerpt) Accordingly, this Article lays out a process for determining when it is and when it is not appropriate to cite Wikipedia and other similar online sources. Part II reviews the history of Wikipedia and controversies caused by citing it. Part III offers a proper citation format and proposes a common sense framework to decide when citing Wikipedia is appropriate. Part IV applies this framework in the context of a variety of actual court cases that cited Wikipedia and shows how the same concepts apply to other consensus-based websites like Urban Dictionary.