User:Cream147/essays/Why is it important to cite our sources on Wikipedia?

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

When I joined Wikipedia, I always wondered why it was always said that citing sources was so important. Surely the more stuff that was in the article, the better it was, cited or not, as long as it was quality writing.

I was wrong. The other night, I was talking to my parents about studying. I said I use Wikipedia as a study source because it has so much information on it. My parents were less than pleased saying 'not to trust Wikipedia' because 'anyone can edit it'. I then told them about sources, which put them at ease.

Simply put, because of how Wikipedia works, nothing on it can be trusted. People can change odd figures and people would be none the wiser. Therefore, Wikipedia needs to be cited, to prove reliability. So if you ever decide to add a fact, particularly a figure, quote or a controversial fact, cite it, so that everyone can be assured that it is true.