Wikipedia may sometimes offer useful background information, but generally, Wikipedia is not an appropriate source for college papers. Early in your research process, a well-written and well-cited Wikipedia article can be useful for finding:
Don't ignore Wikipedia as a possible resource but engage with the articles critically and cautiously.
Note- Librarians around the world (and here at OC) are working to help make Wikipedia as useful and accurate as possible with the #1Lib1Ref twice-yearly campaign.
Work smarter instead of harder in researching.
It is a time saver to begin with a good background understanding of your topic. The overview provided by a reference resource will help you refine and narrow the focus of your research and writing. It will provide you with the keywords you need to search effectively, and it can sometimes give you the names of researchers or scholars who have peer-reviewed articles on your topic.
You can search directly in a subject-specific encyclopedia, or in a database like Credo Reference but another way to find background sources is to search for your broad topic and add encyclopedia in the main library search box.
For example, "mental health AND encyclopedia."
There are different kinds of encyclopedias. Subject encyclopedias are scholarly sources written by subject matter experts and will:
Hate Groups: A Reference Handbook by 
International Encyclopedia of Education by
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