From a File...

Get the contents of a file as text:

From a Webpage...

Get the text that appears on a webpage:

  • Importing a webpage as Text gives the pages HTML source.

From Wikipedia...

Get the text of a Wikipedia article with WikipediaData:

Notes

If text does not import properly, it may be because the text uses a different encoding than the one assumed by Import. See Handle Character Encoding Issues in Imported Text for how to deal with text encoding issues.