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39 Can. L. Libr. Rev. 12 (2014)
Citations to Wikipedia in Canadian Law Journal and Law Review Articles

handle is hein.journals/callb39 and id is 59 raw text is: liii~~ ~ Ciain oWkpdi nCnda a Sommaire Pour mieux comprendre comment et pourquoi Wikip6dia est utilis6 dans la doctrine juridique canadienne, I'auteur a men6 une analyse des citations utilis6es dans les articles publi6s dans les revues juridiques canadiennes. Cet article pr6sente les r6sultats de cette analyse, avec une discussion sur les implications et les th6mes possibles pour de futures recherches. Dans l'ensemble, la plupart des auteurs canadiens semblent 6tre tr6s s6lectifs et prudents quand il s'agit de citer Wikip6dia. Cependant, la nature de ces citations & Wikip6dia indique que les chercheurs juridiques peuvent avoir besoin de d6velopper davantage les comp6tences de maitrise de I'information quand il s'agit de soutenir des affirmations bas6es sur des sources d'information non juridiques (en particulier en ce qui concerne les donn6es statistiques, les informations historiques et les d6finitions technologiques). Les biblioth6caires de droit peuvent avoir un rble 6ducatif important & jouer 4 cet 6gard. 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. Introduction Legal citation serves a number of important purposes, depending on the context of the research being presented and the nature of the information being cited. However, there are at least two key functions that all legal citations serve: they provide bibliographic information and also lend credibility to an author's work.' With respect to bibliographic information, the first sentence of Bora Laskin Law Library's webpage on legal citation concisely states that correct citation allows researchers to identify and locate cited sources by providing the maximum * @Rex Shoyama 2013. This article was peer reviewed. ** BASc (Waterloo), JD (Toronto). Rex Shoyama is a student in the University of Toronto MI program. He wishes to thank Susan Barker and John Bolan, the instructors of the Legal Literature and Librarianship course that was the genesis of this article. He also wishes to give special thanks to the anonymous reviewers of this article for their helpful comments and suggestions. Of course, any and all errors are the responsibility of the author. 1 Ted Tjaden, Legal Research and Writing, 3d ed (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2010) at 21-22. See also Daniel J Baker, A Jester's Promenade: Citations to Wikipedia in Law Reviews, 2002-2008, (2012) 7:2 I/S: A Journal of Law & Policy for the Information Society 361 at 364-65. 2014 Canadian Law Library Review/Revue canadienne des bibliothbques de droit, Volume/Tome 39, No. 2

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