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→copying from US Gov sites: Bethany, you can do it!
::Besides, the beauty (and half the fun) of editing a wiki is doing the research. I am neither American, nor do I know a great deal about the finer elements of American history, but I was able to put together an article on [[Thomas E. Dewey]] (who, admittedly, I thought created the Dewey decimal system, which is why I looked him up in the first place) and I learnt a great deal from doing that. It is probably not a great article on him and equally true, there are people who might lack the skill to research and write an article, but what better way to learn that skill than by trying it - and beauty number two of a wiki is even if they do struggle with their early attempts, there are editors on here who will be able to improve their entries and offer guidance.
::Besides, the beauty (and half the fun) of editing a wiki is doing the research. I am neither American, nor do I know a great deal about the finer elements of American history, but I was able to put together an article on [[Thomas E. Dewey]] (who, admittedly, I thought created the Dewey decimal system, which is why I looked him up in the first place) and I learnt a great deal from doing that. It is probably not a great article on him and equally true, there are people who might lack the skill to research and write an article, but what better way to learn that skill than by trying it - and beauty number two of a wiki is even if they do struggle with their early attempts, there are editors on here who will be able to improve their entries and offer guidance.
::But to simply copy and paste for the sake of copying and pasting should be frowned on, more so if it is unattributed - regardless of the source. (Unfortunately, it only takes a quick look through some of the entries in the Dictionary category, to see just what a horror story blindly copying and pasting entires can precipitate.) --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]]<sup>[[User talk:JessicaT|''Konnichiha!'']]</sup> 17:06, 27 October 2008 (EDT)
::But to simply copy and paste for the sake of copying and pasting should be frowned on, more so if it is unattributed - regardless of the source. (Unfortunately, it only takes a quick look through some of the entries in the Dictionary category, to see just what a horror story blindly copying and pasting entires can precipitate.) --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]]<sup>[[User talk:JessicaT|''Konnichiha!'']]</sup> 17:06, 27 October 2008 (EDT)
:::Bethany - writing a good article is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learned. Any student who intends to go to college, or to have a white-collar job, or to homeschool their own children, or to help their children prepare for college, should take the time to learn this skill. It comes harder to some than to others, but it is well worth the time it takes to learn. Not only will it make you a better writer, it will make you a more critical reader - you'll be better at asking "where does this information come from" and "who expressed this opinion" and "is this a credible source" - all important skills for any good citizen. Like [[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]] said, a wiki is a great place to learn, because there are lots of other people who can improve your article once you write it, and you can learn by observing the changes they make. Simply copying and pasting test from another site is pointless. It creates another article here, sure, but waters down the quality of the articles and devalues the site's reputation. It's no good to proudly say Conservapedia has such and such number of articles, if you've given the opposition reason to say "yeah, but many of them are just copied from somewhere else". And worse - if you've copied material from other sources without indicating that it is quoted material and where it came from, then you are opening yourself and Conservapedia up for accusations of plagiarism. I can see [[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]]'s point about US citizens owning government-generated material, but frankly I feel that the majority of college-educated people would consider it plagiarism regardless, and once you've been labeled a plagiarist, that label is almost impossible to get rid of.
:::Bethany, I encourage you to try to write an article yourself. Pick a topic you know something about. Nothing too broad like "The Revolutionary War" - something more specific, like a particular animal, or a favorite hobby like Irish dancing. Read a few books or magazine articles about it. You don't have to read an entire book - maybe you can find a book that has a few pages about your topic. A librarian can be very helpful with this. Then put the books aside and think about what you think are the most important nuggets of information. Write a phrase about each one on a strip of paper. Now think about how to arrange them - what order makes sense? Move the papers around until you like the order. Now write a sentence or two about each phrase. When you've done this, you've got the body of your article. Write a brief introduction, and perhaps a concluding sentence, and the text is done. Now go back and think about where the facts came from. Put in your references, and you're done! The first one you do may be hard, but you'll get better with practice. You'll get much more satisfaction from writing your own article than from copying someone else's words. And you'll make a much more valued contribution to Conservapedia. It's not the number of articles that's important, it's the quality - and I have confidence that you can write a good article once you've had a bit of practice. --[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 10:31, 28 October 2008 (EDT)