User talk:Emadam

Warning

This edit on Louis IV of France article[1], is plagiarism taken from this book[2] and is not acceptable. Continued plagiarism can result in a block or even permanent ban. --Kansas Bear (talk) 16:49, 12 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome

Hi, Emadam, and welcome to Wikipedia. I happened to notice your comment on Kansas Bear's page, and I thought I might be able to help. The problem with the text you have added is that the words are not your own, and you have not indicated which book or article they come from. On English Wikipedia, it is important that we use our own words, not those of other authors. When we do quote from books, we give credit to the author and say which book, what page, etc. In general, we try to keep quotes short instead of adding long paragraphs that directly quote other works. If you feel your English grammar is not so strong, most Wikipedians are happy to help. If you have any more questions, feel free to drop me a note either here or on my talk. Again, welcome. Kafka Liz (talk) 11:05, 13 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Emadam. Well, as I said before, the problem is that you can't take a chunk of text written by someone else and add it unless you say who wrote it and provide information about where it was originally published - in what book or in what journal, for example. Also, we generally try to avoid large block quotations when possible; usually it is possible to say the same thing in a different way and incorporate it more easily into the surrounding text. The best thing to do (in my experience) is read your source carefully, take some time to digest/think about what it says, and then explain it in your own words.. Does that make sense? This page, Wikipedia:Citing sources, will explain a little bit more about when and how to cite things, if you are interested. I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask if you have more questions. Kafka Liz (talk) 22:54, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, best of luck, and if there's anything else I can help with, feel free to ask. Kafka Liz (talk) 19:52, 18 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]