Actually, Wikipedia can be an important tool for your research if you know how to check for credibility and understand how Wikipedia works. When instructors tell you not to use it, they usually mean not to cite from Wikipedia. This is because Wikipedia is a collaborative effort with information that is not stagnant/fixed. The information you might potentially quote from can change after the time of your use, risking your own credibility.
However, this doesn't mean you can't use Wikipedia to get search term ideas and resource ideas. Check the footnotes/references to see where a Wikipedia article got its information and use that source instead to cite from. Pay attention to article sections like "References" and "See Also" for good leads on sources you might be able to use. Likewise, if a Wikipedia article doesn't have these sections or doesn't have good sources, it's probably better to look elsewhere! Many articles on Wikipedia are incomplete or have tags flagging them for things such as bias, too few citations, or lack of relevancy.
Please see the links and videos below to learn more about how to use Wikipedia for research and why it is a helpful tool:
