[WikiEN-l] Re: Example vs. Original research

[JAY JG]

>From: "Daniel P. B. Smith" <dpbsmith at verizon.net>
>
>On Jul 23, 2005, at 6:21 PM, wikien-l-request at Wikipedia.org wrote:
>>Impressive responses. One point: OR is often used as a
>>an excuse to squash certain debated points, without
>>allowing them to devlop (including citing sources).
>>A silly example might be something like "go find some
>>source for your notion that the world is round, and
>>come back when you do so." Such source can then be
>>debated for a while.
>
>I, and everyone else, frequently insert stuff that is "well known"  without 
>citing sources. "Beethoven is widely regarded as one of the  greatest of 
>composers..." "f = m * a"...
>
>However, whenever a statement, however obvious, is seriously  challenged, I 
>take it seriously.
>
>IF something is TRULY well known, it is usually EASY to find a  source. 
>When someone says cite a source, I just find one and cite it
>.
>And the article is the better for it.
>

Exactly so.  People who claim that NOR is used to quash certain obvious 
facts that are so well-known that they don't need to be cited.  However, it 
is generally easy to find citations for obvious facts.  Often the search and 
citation will help refine the information provided so that it is even more 
accurate.  Sometimes it will turn out that this "obvious fact" is merely one 
POV, and further study will reveal opposing viewpoints, thus contributing to 
NPOV. And if the obvious fact can't be found at all, then it's usually a 
classic case of Original Research masquerading as "obvious fact".

>"The earth is approximately an oblate spheroid (a sphere flattened at  the 
>poles.... For many navigational purposes the earth is assumed to  be a 
>sphere, without intolerable error."

And now the article is even better, because "round" can describe a number of 
shapes, so "sphere" is more accurate.

>Once I've cited the source, I can replace the sentence in the article  that 
>says "the world is round" with the sentence "The U. S. Naval  Oceanographic 
>Office states that for many navigational purposes the  earth is assumed to 
>be a sphere, without intolerable error." Problem  solved.

A more lengthy search will usually reveal a number of different sources 
corroborating this fact; at that point one can simply state "the earth is a 
sphere", with a footnote listing the multiple sources confirming that.

Jay.