A FEW SOURCES TO AVOID IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Wikipedia

I love Wikipedia and use it all the time as a casual reference to information. However, I would never quote or otherwise rely on Wikipedia as a completely trusted source in academic writing, and neither should you. Why? Wikipedia is an open-source text, meaning that anyone can write for it. This quality liberates it from the confines of a normal publisher and makes for a very responsive encyclopedia, but because it is open-sourced, some of the material may contain inaccuracies.

It's best not to rely on it. Rather, if you must use an encyclopedia in your academic work, rely instead on a traditional and trusted encyclopedia like Britannica.

Study Guides such as Sparknotes and Cliff's Notes

These kinds of sources are excellent for reference material. Used responsibly and in tandem with a careful reading of the real text, they can help you through difficult material. But such sources are usually not adequate for use in an academic paper; rather, they are considered overviews. For source material, I recommend delving into scholarly journals and other sources that deal with the material on a deeper level.