Eli Whitney

[Jessica]

In one website it says that Eli Whitney decided to go to college at age 19. He graduated at age 28.
Another website says he attended Yale at 23 and graduated 3 years later.

Which one is right? Is there one? Which one is more reasonable?

I am doing a powerpt. for the Agricultural/Industrial Revolution, and I picked the topic, Eli Whitney, specifically the cotton gin. The project is 100 points and I hope to get a very good grade on it.

Also, one website said that the cotton gin could maintain a daily output of 55 lbs. Another said 23 kg (50 lbs).

[Tomisimo]

You'd be better off looking in an Ecyclopedia than searching the internet. You might also have a look at the Wikipedia article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney

[CrOtALiTo]

Who is Eli Whitney.?

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Who is Eli Whitney.?

Follow the link I posted.

[Jessica]

in the project, we are not allowed to use Wikipedia as our source. But I will get info from it

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by jchen

in the project, we are not allowed to use Wikipedia as our source.

Off topic: In my opinion, this is a very poor stance to take as an educator. They should be teaching you how to vet sources and make an intelligent, informed decision as to the veracity of material you find.

[Jessica]

yeah I haven't asked my teacher why we can't use Wikipedia. I will use it, but I will not list it in my sources.

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Who is Eli Whitney.?

Just a quick fact.
He made the cotton gin, which is more efficient than hand at seperating the seeds.
Hope you know about him now

[CrOtALiTo]

No, I don't anything above her.

[Jessica]

it's a him.
He made a famous invention that would change America forever.
And it's not above. it's about. are you still confused between above and about?

[Jessica]

my S.S. teacher said not to use Wikipedia because it's garbage.

[Rusty]

We probably can't change your teacher's opinion of Wikipedia, so it's best to not quote it as a source in his class. However, I think Wikipedia is quite useful.
Perhaps one of the reasons your teacher doesn't like it is because many people can, and do, contribute to the articles. Wikipedia is the largest reference web site. It is a collaborative work (over 75,000 active contributors) spanning more than 260 languages. It's an ever-changing reference source because essentially anyone can contribute to its pages. Printed reference materials can be soon outdated, but Wikipedia content can be changed several times a day.

[Jessica]

well he doesn't like it because he says that the info there are mostly wrong.

[CrOtALiTo]

I can't opine above this situation with your teacher, but anyhow I believe, she is bad, I don't know if I'm right or bad, but I believe, you must use the Wikipedia, an example, if you need to know above a word or something that you don't know, How do you will do to know above the meaning of the word?

Please you check my hint.

[Jessica]

my S.S. teacher is a he
if you want to know about a word, you look it up in the dictionary. And he meant that info about mostly people and inventions might be wrong. Not the simple things.

[Rusty]

That is your teacher's opinion. We can't change that. What you might do to see if you agree or disagree with his opinion is check several sources and compare what they say against what Wikipedia says. Once you've found two or more sources that agree with each other, you're done and you can form your own opinion.

[Elaina]

Sometimes old-fashioned teachers think that the internet has made life too easy on the students. No longer having to go to the library to do research or as someone I know would say..."ya no se quiebran la cabeza para estudiar, todo es muy facil ahora".....

Maybe that's your teacher's problem......

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by jchen

well he doesn't like it because he says that the info there are mostly wrong.

He's wrong, but you shouldn't argue with him about it because you can't win right now. The information in Wikipedia is actually mostly right with some errors, probably less than 2%. However, as with any internet resource, or any resource at all, you should use your common sense to evaluate it, and compare it with other sources. Even books and printed encyclopedias contain errors, it just takes them longer to be corrected than Wikipedia.

But I don' recommend you argue with your teacher.

EDIT: And as Rusty says, don't take my word for it. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

[sosia]

Hallo Sofia
Wikipedia is a collaborative, but not controlled source, so can be wrong sometimes. The ratio, as David says, is very low (2%) but it can be in the article you're looking.
When I look for an info, I check Wikipedia first. Then I grab the principal facts, and search again, looking for a web-place I can trust more, like the museum of the town, or a page in an University. Sometimes wikipedia gives at the end of the page trusted websites.
An example:
Eli Whitney -->
I write in Google "Eli whitney wiki" -> I'm feeling lucky
In wikipedia, at the end of the page, has a good link, the eli whitney museum-->
there you can find the follow (in "the inventor")
In his early twenties, Whitney determined to attend Yale College, so unusual a step for anyone not preparing for either the law or theology that his parents objected. He was twenty-three before he got away from home and twenty-seven when he received his degree, almost middle-aged in the eyes of his classmates.

You can also see as trusted links a page in the MIT, an encyclopaedia and some other Whitney places.

If they have no trusted links, you can write in Google a good fact (for example "Eli Whitney December 8, 1765") and you can see lots of webpages.


I always use Wikipedia as a first step, or for an overview. When looking for specific info it's better to search more trusted palces. I think all famous persons have now a museum or a good library .
saludos

[CrOtALiTo]

I don't know.

Jchen por fin que sexo es tu teacher hombre or mujer.