[WikiEN-l] Fwd: Opt Out for Not So Notable Biographies

[Fred Bauder]

>Plagiarism is masquerading another's ideas as your own. Using a single
>source almost always leads to this situation (unless you creatively
>reinterpret the single source (==original research!)). You can be
>plagiaristic while crediting the work you're plagiarising - depends
>how the referencing is done.
>
>If I were to restate a philosopher's critique without incorporating
>other critiques or constantly reminding the reader that the critique
>is not my own (e.g. "Dennett then goes on to state..."), I risk
>plagiarism. This is the case even if I reference the philosopher (here
>Dennett) at the end of the essay.
>
>-- 
>Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)

Not if you candidly credit your source for each significant fact or assertion contained in your article. Just a footnote at the end would not suffice. We expect every significant fact or assertion to be verifiable by reverence to a reliable source. You may have written a poor article, but you have not plagiarized.

Fred