User:Mrsdooley/sandbox

War of 1812
"War of 1812." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 30 Sep. 2012. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

The Oxford Companion to American Military History

Stagg, J. C. A.. "War of 1812." Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. . n.d. Web. 30 Sep. 2012.

The Oxford Companion to Canadian History

Gough, Barry M.. "War of 1812." Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. . n.d. Web. 30 Sep. 2012.

The Oxford Companion to United States History

Weeks, William Earl. "War of 1812.." Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. . n.d. Web. 30 Sep. 2012.

Research Process

I wanted to research the War of 1812 because it has three unique perspectives; the American, the British and the Canadian. It was easy to find encyclopedia entries. The Wikipedia article is in depth (it printed at 39 pages) and does not present an obvious bias. I was surprised to find that although the Oxford Press publishes all three of my other sources they each had a unique summary on the same war based on the country the entry was written for.

Conrad Black
“Conrad Black.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 31 Aug.2012. 1 Oct. 2012

Encyclopedia Britannica

“Conrad Black". Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 30 Sep. 2012.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

“Conrad Moffat Black.” The Canadian Encyclopedia Online. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2012

Research Process

When I began researching Conrad Black I expected the Oxford Press to have an entry for him. There was none. Wikipedia goes so far as to list some of his properties shared with his first and second wives. The Canadian Encyclopedia entry is curt and straight to the point. Britannica has a small entry about Black. Wikipedia had a lot more information than the two other entries I read.

Front de Liberation du Quebec
"Front de libération du Québec." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Sep. 2012. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

“Front de liberation du Quebec.” The Canadian Encyclopedia Online. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2012.

The Oxford Companion to Canadian History

Cardin, Jean-François. "Front de libération du Québec." Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. . n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2012.

Research Process

The Front de liberation du Quebec was simple for me to find when searching Canadian sources but impossible when I looked elsewhere. All of the articles have a Canadian perspective because I could not find an entry from another source. Wikipedia had the most information.

Overall Research Process
There were many other articles I wanted to use but could not because the only substantial writings I could find were on Wikipedia. It seems that Wiki has much more information than any other source. I think this is because many people have the opportunity to contribute to the same article.

=Evaluation of Wikipedia and The Canadian Encyclopedia Articles=

Introduction
The internet has given millions of people instant access to information that would otherwise be impossible or hard to find. Anyone can find information that was once reserved for academia or a specific intended audience. This information can be presented in different formats being made to look genuine and scholarly without actually being so. Sources once thought to be esteemed now have more people questioning their authority. Despite the vast exchange of knowledge made available through modern technology articles from any source on the internet can be misinformative. Two popular databases are The Canadian Encyclopedia and Wikipedia. One is considered a valuable resource; the other is questionable because of the authority of its contributors. Both will be subject to a comparison of quality, credibility, and proper use of source acknowledgement.

Wikipedia
The Front de Liberation du Quebec began as a loosely put terrorist organization with various cells coming together over different periods of time. The main cells were the Nelson Cell, Saint Denis Cell and the Dieppe Cell. Some members were trained overseas such as Normand Roy and Michel Lambert. They were taught terror tactics by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Jordan. The FLQ’s activity can be divided into waves. The first wave began around 1963. Original members called themselves Reseau de Resistance. Most were arrested by June 1st of that year. The second through fifth wave had many revolving members and almost as many name changes. As members of cells were arrested new ones would form. The sixth and final wave ended in the October Crisis of 1970. The decline of the FLQ was fast. Following the murder of politician Pierre LaPorte many FLQ members were arrested. This deterred possible recruits. After the October Crisis, which was a hostage situation ending in murder, public support of the terrorist group waned. Following 1970 no terrorism acts have been positively attributed to the FLQ.

The Canadian Encyclopedia
In retaliation of the modernization of Quebec, the Front de Liberation du Quebec was formed. The province was expanding and going through a period of social change. The FLQ movement was influenced by the decolonization of Algeria. The group’s philosopher was Pierre Villiers, a malcontent who wrote Nigers Blanc D’Amerique. During the 1960’s the FLQ caused havoc throughout Quebec. In 1963 members placed bombs in mailboxes in an affluent Anglophone area of Montreal. In 1964 the Vice President of International Firearms was murdered along with the theft of several firearms and $50 000 dollars stolen. All in all the FLQ is thought to be responsible for roughly 200 bombing incidents. Many people were affected by the FLQ’s actions. Because of the October Crisis the War Measures Act was resurrected. 450 people were arrested, including 150 suspected terrorists. Two members, Paul Rose and Francis Simard were convicted of Pierre Laport’s murder. Other members were prosecuted after having returned to Canada from exile.

Comparison and Contrasting of Articles
The two articles provide relevant facts related to the FLQ. The Canadian Encyclopedia states that from 1965-1967 the FLQ sympathized with striking workers and that the Montreal Stock Exchange was bombed injuring 27 people. Wikipedia reports that in 1963 two members of the FLQ were sentenced to 12 years in prison for the bombing of Montreal’s Army Recruitment Office killing the night watchmen in the process. Wikipedia also outlines a gun robbery that occurred on August 29, 1964 in which two people were killed. The information given by the two entries are both relevant but are not the same. Other than the October Crisis both articles report on different aspects of the Front de Liberation du Quebec.

The obvious difference between the Wikipedia and Canadian Encyclopedia articles is size. Printed out the Wikipedia article is nine pages long double spaced. The Canadian Encyclopedia article is single spaced and fits into three quarters of a page. Wikipedia has headings that divide the history, the waves and supposed subsequent activities of the FLQ. The Canadian Encyclopedia entry is a total of three paragraphs without headings to divide topics. Wikipedia has roughly 36 hyperlinks leading to more information on certain topics pertaining to the Front de Liberation du Quebec. In addition to the hyperlinks Wikipedia fleshes out the issues without the user having to search for more information. The Canadian Encyclopedia provides only seven links to the most crucial information. It gives only the basic facts and no supplementary information.

References, Contributors, and Further Reading
Both articles lack working external links. This puts the currency of the information given into question. Four of the six links posted by Wikipedia are dead. The others are downloadable files to an unsigned research paper by a McGill student. The Canadian Encyclopedia provides five external sites for readers to refer to. All of the links are Canadian and government affiliated or subsidised, putting a bias slant on the information. The remaining two titled “Last Lunch with Trudeau” and “Just Watch Me”, are very similar and both link to the CBC Digital Archives website.

Marc Laurendeau authored the Canadian Encyclopedia article. At the bottom of the page a Who’s Who at the Canadian Encyclopedia link is given, however Laurendeau’s information is not provided. The most information the author could find was through a Google search resulting in a small Wikipedia biography. It states that Laurendeau completed a Master’s thesis titled The Violent Quebecers in 1974. Wikipedia authors are anonymous, therefore credentials cannot be authenticated. At top of the article there is a link where researchers can view the updates that have been made. A random click on the contributor DW’s profile led to a page stating that she/he had been banned from Wikipedia for copyright infringement. A long list of handles that DW used to doctor articles was given. This puts the integrity of user contributed pieces into question. It has been updated monthly since 2003 by many contributors. Despite the revisions citations are still needed for many statements.

Aside from the external links already mentioned the Canadian Encyclopedia does not provide a list of references or bibliography. No citations are used. Wikipedia has headings for Further Reading, References, and a Bibliography listing two items. However under the Bibliography heading is a link to a Wikipedia page with an extensive bibliographic list of Front de Liberation du Quebec. Additionally there is a list titled See Also where researchers can view related pages within the Wikipedia database.

Assessment
With good reason scholars are skeptical of user contributed entries on online databases like Wikipedia. The internet provides the anonymity that plagiarism requires. Other than being banned from these sites or perhaps having their IP addresses blocked users, face no real repercussions for plagiarising or downright lying. As a student and being somewhat tech savvy, I was aware of these limitations and take information written with some skepticism. I wasn’t expecting that the more scholarly resources such as the Canadian Encyclopedia to have many of the same pitfalls.

Statements that require some sort of reference or citations are present throughout the Canadian Encyclopedia. Some examples are “…Montreal based, both cells claimed about 12 members” and “It was involved with over 200 bombings between 1963-1970”. Attributing criminal acts to anyone, even a known terrorist group without proof causes readers not to trust their sources. Tracking down information about the author Marc Laurendeau was harder than it should have been. A French Wikipedia article of a couple of sentences was the most comprehensive biography I found. There is a link where users can post their comments about the subject. I like that feature because editors will be able to read people’s feedback about their articles. Despite the Canadian Encyclopedia having such a basic account of the FLQ, no bibliography is available for further reading.

There is a large Canadian bias in the Canadian Encyclopedia entry. Hyperlinks given within the article and all external links are Canadian. It gives no indication that the rest of the world was aware of or effected by a gang of radicals terrorizing citizens in an industrialized nation. Laurendeau writes that some members fled to Cuba after the October Crisis. Wikipedia expands on this by stating that the move was approved by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Under the In Popular Culture heading Wikipedia gives examples of FLQ in non Canadian culture. They are mentioned in Robert Ludlum’s 1980 hit The Bourne Identity and Marvel Comic character Northstar was a member in his youth.

Underneath Wikipedia’s Subsequent Activities is a text box warning that there are no citations for the entire entry. The warning is dated November 2009 so despite the large about of contributors and extensive bibliography no one has bothered to update the information. Some sentences that required a citation don’t have one. For example, under the Decline headline “the Montreal anti terrorist unit had highly placed informants within the FLQ organization...” Stating that an illegal operative had government agents working within it requires a citation. I think that despite of the problems with citations the Wikipedia article gives a better description of the FLQ. The description of the FLQ is very thorough with plenty of names and details. I especially like the usefulness of the bibliography link

Conclusion
Neither one of these articles could be used as a sole source of information for research. They are lacking in too many basic fundamentals such as credibility and proper use of citations. Authoritative sites like the Canadian Encyclopedia are not excluded from this problem. I think comparing these articles and demonstrating that their pitfalls are not unalike is good example of why information literacy is crucial in today’s world of information pollution.