Wikipedia Question?

[kevin11951]

is it considered plagiarizing if you copy text from wikipedia pages?

[jualin]

Depends if you get caught. But in a university yes it is considered plagiarism.

[renfrew]

did you quote the source? pretty much the definition of plagiarism if you haven't ;)

[fatality_uk]

is it considered plagiarizing if you copy text from wikipedia pages?

Not if you quote your source.

[Icehuck]

is it considered plagiarizing if you copy text from wikipedia pages?

As long as you quote the source you are fine. However, if it is for school wikipedia is not a valid source. Check with your professor.

[Maratonda]

If it is on Wikipedia, then it should be fact, or a definition, theory, etc.
Assuming that you should be judged more on your personal elaboration of something, quoting from Wikipedia should be a starting point, therefore by no means plagiarizing.
My opinion though, maybe your work is meant for another purpose.

[a fenderson]

It's plagarism if you copy anything (wikipedia or not) without citing your source and/or putting the text in quotes. You have to let your reader know where you are getting your information from, and if you don't show sources it's like you're taking credit for other people's original work.

Also, professors/teachers can easily paste your work into google to see if it comes up on wikipedia or elsewhere.

[lisati]

Not if you quote your source.

+1: Good manners and good style require that sources are acknowledged where possible


Also, professors/teachers can easily paste your work into google to see if it comes up on wikipedia or elsewhere.

I've heard of software (the name eludes me for the moment) that can do this (and similar) automatically.

[Maratonda]

If you quote/copy from Wikipedia, that's gonna pop up as first result in 99% of the cases.

[Le-Froid]

They allow you to copy their text if your site is under a GPL license or something. (It states in mediawiki if you use your site under GPL you may copy wikipedia)

[dizee]

plagiarism is not merely taking text, it is taking text and passing it off as your own. as long as you acknowledge the source you'll be fine. the exception to this is the rule: never cite wikipedia.

use it as a first reference for information if you want, don't lift passages but try and understand them or at least paraphrase them. but don't put it down as a reference on the assignment.

schools and colleges usually don't accept it as a valid source which is fair enough since you could edit it yourself to agree with what your assignment says. that doesn't mean it isn't very useful. you need to be careful for certain topics especially politically sensitive stuff but for the more obscure things it can be excellent. but it should really only be a first point of call to get a quick basic overview, and then on to the books or academic journals to get an understanding.

[zmjjmz]

Technically Wikipedia is under the GFDL, so while your professor may not like it, it's perfectly legal :D

[Greyed]

Also to explain why Wikipedia is a good first source. Wikipedia operates under the requirement of no original research. Everything on Wikipedia should have a cite back to where that tidbit has come from. Those sources, in turn, cannot be wikis or wikilike themselves. So while Wikipedia itself may not be a valid source one can find a slew of valid sources from it.

[TBOL3]

I don't think it really matters whether or not it's LGPL, or GPL, or CC-by-sa...

I quote textbooks all the time, and unless there's some law that I don't know, it's legal.

Just quote it.

Also, a small side hint, if it's not too important of a paper, use the internet archive's swayback machine, and quote that. Not wikipedia.

[dizee]

Technically Wikipedia is under the GFDL, so while your professor may not like it, it's perfectly legal :D
copying it is legal so long as the authors of the work are attributed, according to the GFDL.

not attributing the authors is pretty much the definition of plagiarism.


So while Wikipedia itself may not be a valid source one can find a slew of valid sources from it.
good point.

[init1]

As long as you site it, yes you can.

[NovaAesa]

Also, professors/teachers can easily paste your work into google to see if it comes up on wikipedia or elsewhere.
My university uses a system called TurnitIn. It checks your assignment against the internet and also all other assignments that have ever been turned in.

Even though if you quote from wikipedia, it's not a great idea. You are better off quoting from the sources that are at the bottom of each article.

[samjh]

Use Wikipedia to find sources of information and cite those sources. Wikipedia is not an authoritative source of information.

Oh, did I say "cite"? I'll say it again: cite your sources!

Simply lifting text, or even paraphrasing text, without citing the source is plagiarism. So make sure to cite your source, always!


My university uses a system called TurnitIn. It checks your assignment against the internet and also all other assignments that have ever been turned in.TurnitIn has become pretty standard among nearly all Australian universities I think. Good system when it works properly, but it registers a lot of false positives too.

[geni]

Technically Wikipedia is under the GFDL, so while your professor may not like it, it's perfectly legal :D


This does however require that you include the complete text of the license which is about three pages long.