Since almost anyone can post (and edit) information on Wikipedia (wikipedia.org),

• the Wikipedia website is generally not a good source of content for an essay being written for academic purposes.

Nonetheless, the Wikipedia website can be a very useful resource (when writing for academic purposes).

Wikipedia as a "Stepping Stone"

The Wikipedia website can (metaphorically) provide a useful "stepping stone" function to writers,

• (metaphorically) guiding the writer to additional sources (of recorded information) about the topic(s) being researched.

Many (though not all) of the entries in Wikipedia have the following sections listed in the "Contents" box:

• References
• External Links
• Further Reading

Each of these sections has the potential of (metaphorically) providing information about additional sources.