What Does a "Reliable Source" Mean? Types and Structure of References in Polish Wikipedia Articles About Historical Persons.

Purpose/Thesis: The paper aims to characterize references to different types of sources featuring in select Polish Wikipedia articles from the category of people related to the Austrian Partition and its subcategories. Approach/Methods: The data sample comprised references from 50 randomly selected articles from the Polish Wikipedia, including 1007 citations and 758 references. The references have been collected, processed, and analyzed with the use of R language. After they have been categorized, descriptive statistics were provided and analyzed. Results and conclusions: The study shows that the majority of sources used in the research sample were primary sources. Consequently, it demonstrates that the analyzed articles about historical persons can be considered to be a product of research rather than simple derivative work, if only to a certain extent. Polish Wikipedians relied mainly on government directories and newspaper or magazine articles, often available in digital libraries. Secondary sources, on the other hand, consisted mostly of books, webpages, and book sections. The references were variously structured, and bibliographic descriptions sometimes lacked important elements. The findings confirm previously observed difficulties of analyzing sources in Wikipedia. Moreover, they support the argument that it is necessary to research different editions and subject areas of the largest online encyclopedia. Research limitations: Due to the exploratory character of research, focusing on references from selected articles about historical persons from Poland, one cannot readily extrapolate its results to other parts of the Polish Wikipedia. Additionally, the research sample comprised only citations and references collected at one specific point of time. Originality/Value: Most of the studies on the sources used in Wikipedia articles have focused on its English edition. Moreover, articles about historical persons in this encyclopedia have not been analyzed from the perspective of sources used, their types, and reference patterns. The paper broadens the understanding of the way the sources are used in Wikipedia by focusing on the Polish edition of the encyclopedia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]