Accuracy and quality in historical representation: Wikipedia, textbooks and the Investiture Controversy

Wikipedia’s popularity is unquestioned, but a perceived lack of accuracy and reliability in articles on historical topics prevents historians from embracing it more fully. This article argues that accuracy may be only one component of overall quality. While Wikipedia may have demonstrable shortcomings, it also has strengths in areas such as completeness and accessibility. These strengths appear when historical narratives in Wikipedia are compared to other sources of historical information readily available to American undergraduates. The article compares Wikipedia’s entry on the Investiture Controversy to current scholarship and textbook treatments of the theme. On a broader view of quality, Wikipedia appears in a more favorable light than it does when we employ a narrow focus on accuracy about specific dates and events.