Wikipedia does not claim to possess correct information on its website. In fact, they even have a full page disclaimer which states, “We may be wrong – Use at your own risk.” http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer

You shouldn’t be using an encyclopedia as a reference source. As a college student (or even as a high school student for that matter) you should not be using an encyclopedia as a reference source for academic research papers.  An encyclopedia whether in print or electronic form is not considered an academic or scholarly source.  For more appropriate references you should seek out books or journal articles which have been in many cases peer reviewed and painstakingly researched.  The difference is seeking out quality information not just convenient information.

Wikipedia articles can be written and edited by anyone, not necessarily someone who is an expert in the topic.  Wikipedia is a source of shared information with the online community. That means that the content you are reading on Wikipedia may have been written by an expert in the field or some guy in his basement watching South Park at 3am.  Pretty much anyone with an Internet connection can add to or edit information on Wikipedia.

If the creator of Wikipedia discourages it I think it’s a safe bet not use it

Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales made an interesting comment at a conference at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Mr. Wales said that he gets about 10 e-mail messages a week from students who complain that Wikipedia has gotten them into academic hot water.

“They say, ‘Please help me. I got an F on my paper because I cited Wikipedia’ and the information turned out to be wrong,” he says. But he said he has no sympathy for their plight, noting that he thinks to himself: ‘For God sake, you’re in college; don’t cite the encyclopedia.’

 “Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation” http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/wikipedia-founder-discourages-academic-use-of-his-creation/2305

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