[WikiEN-l] The vexed issue of sources

[The Cunctator]

Thank you. People who argue that primary sources are Evil drive me batty.

On 12/7/06, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Law_in_Star_Trek
> >
> > Most of the sources appear to be episodes.  I explained how
> > interpreting episodes is original research, and asked for some more
> > sources.  So they went and cited more episodes.  Either I am
> > completely wrong here or someone needs to go and explain to these
> > people patiently but in words of one syllable that "cite your sources"
> > does not mean name the episode in which you saw the plot device which
> > leads you to conclude something.
>
> Episodes are perfectly valid sources, but they are primary sources, so
> have the same issues as any other primary source. (Basically, they're
> only useful for stating facts, any interpretation needs to cite a
> secondary source.)
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