Higher education periodicals like The Chronicle of Higher Education have sought to inform readers about the state of Wikipedia's use in higher education. How can the academic literature inform scholars about this tool? This paper seeks to address the use of Wikipedia as a source of information in advertising courses. It explains, in layman's terms, the peer-review and editing system used by Wikipedia. A categorical distinction content analysis is used to compare a sample of 321 advertising terms and definitions listed in three advertising textbooks with the definition of the term located on Wikipedia's own Web site. Analysis of 1,127 printed pages of data suggested, overall, that Wikipedia is an accurate source of information for advertising courses. Advertising faculty should continue to engage in the philosophical discussion about the merits of using and contributing to advertising content on the Wikipedia Web site.
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