Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in
 
Wikipedia
Wikipedia

Learn English meaning of Wikipedia

Date: Sep 10 2019

Themes: How To, Tech, Work

Grammar: It's vs. Its

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

We live in the age of information. One hundred years ago, if you wanted information about other parts of the world, you would need to write letters or use old books. And who knows how accurate they would be? But nowadays, you can learn pretty much anything about anything on a computer. And Wikipedia is always a good place to start.

Wikipedia is a free Internet encyclopedia, written in almost 300 different languages. If you want a fast answer to a question like “How far is the moon from Earth?,” Wikipedia will quickly tell you it is 385,000 km away. Wikipedia is so amazing because it ties together the large majority of human knowledge into one place.

Sara asks Gary what he thinks about Wikipedia. Find out more in today’s English lesson about doing research online.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Sara_R

Sara_R

Gary

Gary

Sara_R:  Gary.

Gary:  Yes?

Sara_R:  I’m looking for an answer on a topic and I’m thinking about using Wikipedia.

Gary:  Great idea.

Sara_R:  OK. I just wonder if it’s reliable and accurate. I know because it’s user-generated, anyone can write anything.

Gary:  That’s absolutely true. And of course because it’s free, it seems like the information might not be very accurate. That’s not actually true. It’s a great resource that people actually provide citations for and show you where that information came from. So you can determine, “Is this accurate or inaccurate information?”

Sara_R:  Hmm… it is nice to get information at the click of a button.

Gary:  True.

Sara_R:  Have you ever contributed to Wikipedia?

Gary:  I have! I’ve contributed a few times. And it’s actually really hard. It’s not as simple as editing email, for example.

Sara_R:  Good to know.

Gary:  Yeah.

Sara_R:  Well, I will try it. Thank you.

 

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "It's vs. Its" from this lesson Go Super!

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz Go Super!

 

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3 Go Super!

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

Discussion

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

Sara is doing some research, but she isn’t sure exactly where to look. She is thinking about using Wikipedia, but she is not sure if the information she would find there is accurate. She does agree, though, that getting information at the click of a button is nice.

Gary thinks using Wikipedia is a great idea. He thinks the information found there is accurate because the website uses a lot of citations. He has even contributed to Wikipedia a couple of times!

Do you use Wikipedia? Do you think it is a reliable source for information?

 

Comments

Log in to Comment

Wordsmith

WordsmithSuper Member!

United States

Did anyone ever edit Wikipedia?

12:32 AM Sep 12 2019 |

baharmbm

baharmbm

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

thanks a lot it was so useful

04:34 AM Oct 11 2016 |

1 person likes this

qq_baby

qq_babySuper Member!

Taiwan

good

02:45 PM Sep 10 2015 |

qq_baby

qq_babySuper Member!

Taiwan

I use it all the time.

02:45 PM Sep 10 2015 |

luisucab

luisucab

Venezuela

I think, Wikipedia is a good tool to get information quickly and accurate. I read some articles there and I really impressed because you can find what ever yo want.


Some people prefer to go to the old librarys.


02:15 PM Sep 10 2015 |

fcesur93

fcesur93

Turkey

i sometimes use the Wikipedia. it is not accurate all knowledge. because it is user-generated. some knowledge are accurate and some not. i think, when we look about a topic, we have to search resource. :)

12:12 PM Sep 10 2015 |

maybe_more

Ukraine

I do use it and think it’s reliable

02:58 PM Sep 08 2015 |

coskun3

coskun3

Turkey

Hi, ı am want learn english, I am from Turkey, I am student, see you :)

07:53 PM Sep 07 2015 |

Wuthering

United States

Google , Yahoo , Wikipedia are the great search engines , However , some information need to up-to-date such as prices ; maps ; leaders of countries …ect because the earth is always rotation …. lol 

04:17 PM Sep 07 2015 |

julito1

julito1

Argentina

Where has gone the times when to gather information on any given topic we had to rely on the Encyclopedia Brittanica . I am mostly a Wikipedia User, and if need be, in some cases i double check with another source of information. 

04:02 PM Sep 07 2015 |

ricoswift

ricoswift

China

wikipedia turly should deserve a good reputation. it helps a lot to me ,and to whoever wants to know things. But ,in China ,we have our own localized and featured search engine “Baidu”. 

08:30 AM Sep 07 2015 |

NavidArash

NavidArash

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I’ve never had or read a printed version of encyclopedia in my life and If I ever bumped into a question about something then I would look for people with good general knowledge in family and acquaintances (these guys were also known as “living encyclopedias”) to ask my questions.


In fact I was doomed to die without knowing what a real encyclopedia might be, until Wikipedia emerged and became one of my favorite websites on the net and all thanks to the website, now It’s easy as apple pie to find my answers there.


Although It’s user-generated but I’ve never questioned its reliability and always considered Wikipedia as a dependable resource.

07:35 AM Sep 07 2015 |

sunny_ling88

China

I use it sometimes, there are a lot of knowledge there you can find everything what you are looking for, that is good website.

03:08 AM Sep 07 2015 |

Likes (14):

See all >

Share this lesson:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Bebo
  • Share on Myspace
  • Share on Twitter
  • Email this to a friend
  • Share on Sina

Post Ebaby! lessons on your blog:

Ebaby! Cast