User:Bryankwiat/sandbox

Blog posts and press releases are considered poor sources of reliable information. Why?
Blog posts and press releases purvey the specific perspective of the one who wrote them. Therefore, the information contained in these documents can not be trusted to be neutral in nature and should not be used as a source for a Wikipedia article.

What are some reasons you might not want to use a company's website as a main source of information about that company?
The information presented on a company's website will be specifically chosen to highlight all of the positives about that company. For example, if an oil shipping company happened to have an accident where it spilled a tremendous amount of oil into the ocean, this information probably wouldn't be on the company's website or the entire course of events leading to this disaster wouldn't be presented. In other words, a company's website does not represent a neutral perspective and should be avoided as a main source of information.

What is the difference between a copyright violation and plagiarism?
A copyright violation is when someone uses material owned by a company for their own purposes without the explicit permission from that company. An example would be using the NYU logo on a self-printed t-shirt without paying the University for using it. Plagiarism occurs when someone tries to pass off another's ideas or writing off as their own.

What does public domain mean?
Public domain means that something is available for the use by anyone who wants to use it for any purpose they can think of.

What does fair use mean?
Fair use means using another's property in a way that is considered to be fair with regard to the owner. For example, if I purchase a music album from an artist, me listening to it is fair use. Distributing copies of the album to my friends for free is not.

What are some good techniques to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism?
If there is a quote or idea that you would like to use in a Wikipedia article or research report, it is best to rewrite the quote or idea in your own words without using the same structure. It is possible to summarize the quote or idea, which often shortens its length and requires a certain level of understanding that is necessary to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism.

Copying text from other sources?
Citing a source and copying text from a source are two distinct actions. This goes hand in hand with the idea expressed in the previous section. It is expected that information in Wikipedia articles and research reports will come from some other first hand reference, but the words have to come from the writer. Credit must be given to the source of the original information, which is called a citation.

William H. Emory
The early life and career section seems to be slightly biased, specifically with regard to Emory's level of skill as a cartographer, as well as the story about signing off on a misplaced boundary marker.

The second citation refers to a website that does not seem to be that reputable.

Clear and concise marriage and family section, though where are the citations?

Overall, the article is lacking in citations, though this may be due to the fact that the author uses the second citation for the majority of the article without making it that clear.

Upon viewing the talk page for this article, the only comment is from the instructor of my Wikipedia course who brings up the same critique that I have with regard to inline citations.

National Academy of Engineering
Very informative and well referenced article. No constructive criticisms at this time.

Time Value of Money
Excellent use of a table to summarize all of the different equations.

The article seems to be an unbiased representation of the math and how the equations are used.

Investopedia is a great financial resource.

No constructive criticisms at this time.

Arthur M. Wellington
The assignment is to update the lead section for Arthur M. Wellington's article. Honestly, I am having some trouble finding additional sources of information for him. The only thing that I found was that he has a number of awards named in his honor. Therefore, I would include the addition of the following sentence to the lead section of the article:

Arthur M. Wellington was so influential as an engineer that a number of societies have named awards in his honor. They include the American Society of Civil Engineers' Arthur M. Wellington Prize for significant contributions to transportation engineering and the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers' Engineering Economy Wellington Award for the recognition of those who have provided a long history of service to the field of engineering economy, as well as for providing increased visibility of the field to the general public.