Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by us, the people who use it. It was launched in 2001, by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Their purpose is to write articles that inform the audience on certain topics that are from different major points of view in an easily accessible way. Initially, there was only the English-language version but versions in other languages have quickly developed after, which made it even more possible for the world to access. As of March 2017, Wikipedia has about 40,000 articles. The site strives to be a reliable source especially on controversial topics by gathering the strongest references possible to prove their statements. Personal experiences or opinions do not belong. Most of the time in articles, multiple points of view are described and are each presented openly and not referred to as "the truth" or "the better view".
I will be analyzing the Wikipedia site of the Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting because it is a recent event that has led to the talk of controversial issues on the news. The purpose of the Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting Wikipedia page is to get as much reliable information of what happened out to the public. I would say the author proves this by giving a detailed description of the events leading up to, during and after the shooting. The very first sentence is “On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.” This seems to be a common starting point for most Wikipedia pages because it answers the questions of what, when and where did the event occur. This gives the reader an idea of what it is they will be reading about more in depth in the article. The audience of this article is anyone who wants to learn about what happened during the event or wants to keep up with the aftermath and legal proceedings. The author(s) make it easily readable by dividing the article into sections with subheadings. It is common for a Wikipedia article to provide many different hyperlinks to other articles in case the reader wants to learn about a certain subject. An example for this article would be “he intended to mimic the University of Texas tower shooting” the audience may have never heard about the UT Austin tower shooting and is able to click the link that leads them to a more in depth page about it. This can also help establish some sort of credibility as a Wikipedia article. The author appeals to ethics by referencing where the information was taken from and making sure that it is from a reliable source, not a blog which is opinion. Almost every sentence that gives specific detailed information about the shooting ends with a footnote which leads you to the bottom of the article with a list of references. Looking at the reference list of this article most of the statements are taken from news reports like USA today, The New York Times and Miami Herald. In this article the author(s) uses logos by using important figures involved in the event such as the local sheriff “According to Sheriff Scott Israel, his office received 23 calls about Cruz over a decade.” In this article there is no need for there to be an appeal to emotion since it is just informational.
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