Wikipedia is a useful tool for research. It provides good insight and a broad understanding of most topics. With this said, it should not be used for in depth research. Wikipedia is good for getting general data on certain non controversial topics, like when Hans Zimmer was born. Die hard Encyclopedia lovers point out that they have the same information in book form. What they fail to mention is that encyclopedias are heavy, expensive, and not always up to date. The nice thing about Wikipedia is that it is always being updated and changed. It has articles from topics that happened only last week. It might take years for that to reach print. Just because something is printed on paper, doesn't necessarily make it true. The negative aspect of Wikipedia is that some topics, such as abortion, Christianity, the war in Iraq, and which way the toilet paper should fall, are disputed and not always accurate. ( the paper should always come from the top!!!). So, with these points being out there, Wikipedia is a tool for getting base knowledge of a topic, but it should not be used as a crutch to sustain an argument.