[TOEFL/Writing] Question 1 : Discuss Communal Online Encyclopedias

The writer and the lecturer talked about communal online encyclopedias (COEs). The writer talked about the problems of COEs and the lecturer talked about the benefits.

First, the writer mentioned that contributors on COEs are sometimes nonspecialists. They lack academic credentials, and for this reason, they can write inaccurate information. However, the lecturer argued that traditional encyclopedias (TEs) also have some errors. When we find some errors in TEs, it is hard to fix the errors, and it can take almost decades to fix. On the other hand, it is easy to find and correct errors in COEs.

Second, the writer addressed the security threat of COEs; hackers, vandals or unscrupulous users can delete and modify some information maliciously. In other words, TEs are impossible to hack. The lecturer argued that COEs also protect their articles from threats by using read-only formats, especially for crucial facts. Furthermore, they try to manage their information with fact-checkers.

Lastly, the writer said that information in COEs is sometimes too depp to filter important information. TEs usually contain well-filtered information and contributors consider what information needs to be included and excluded. The lecturer argued that TEs have limited space to write, and this is the reason that contributors need to discuss what information to include or not. However, COEs have no limited space, and people can contribute to a variety of articles. This is the strongest advantage of COEs.

 

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Missed point

- COEs has special editors to monitor articles

- Diversity of topics covered by online encyclopedias is a true reflection of the diversity of people's interests