Citations to Wikipedia in Canadian Law Journal and Law Review Articles

Abstract

To better understand how and why Wikipedia is utilized in Canadian legal scholarship, the author conducted a citation analysis of Canadian law journal and law review articles. This article presents the findings of this analysis, along with a discussion of implications and possible themes for future research. Overall, most Canadian authors appear to be quite selective and conservative when it comes to citing Wikipedia. However, the nature of such citations to Wikipedia indicates that legal researchers may need to develop greater information literacy skills when it comes to supporting assertions based on non-legal information sources (particularly with respect to statistical data, historical information and technological definitions). Law librarians may have an important educational role to play in this regard.

Keywords: Wikipedia, legal research, legal writing, citations