User talk:DSPowell57

Cut-and-paste at River Edge
I was in the middle of working on it, editing it when you swooped in. If you want useful content give someone a minute to figure it out. DSPowell57
 * Please understand that you cannot save material that violates Copy-paste, even if you intend to modify the material later. Review the sources -- and the Bergen County Historical Society's material is excellent -- and then write in your own words. You cannot simply reword text taken straight from the source, as Close paraphrasing restricts that as well. Alansohn (talk) 13:30, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Cut-and-paste at River Edge
The history section you added to the article for River Edge, New Jersey is a cut-and-paste copy from http://www.bergencountyhistory.org/Pages/historyOfRiverEdgeNJ.html with minor rewording and typo corrections. This is an excellent source and a history section is an important addition, but you cannot simply take material directly from the source with minor changes. Wikipedia policy requires that all text added must be in your own words. Alansohn (talk) 02:04, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Hello DSPowell57, and welcome to Wikipedia. While we appreciate your contributing to Wikipedia, there are certain things you must keep in mind about using information from your sources to avoid copyright or plagiarism issues here.


 * You can only copy/translate a small amount of a source, and you must mark what you take as a direct quotation with double quotation marks (") and a cited source. You can read about this at Non-free content in the sections on "text". See also Referencing for beginners, for how to cite sources here.
 * Aside from limited quotation, you must put all information in your own words and structure, in proper paraphrase. Following the source's words too closely can create copyright problems, so it is not permitted here; see Close paraphrasing. (There is a college level introduction to paraphrase, with examples, hosted by the Online Writing Lab of Purdue.) Even when using your own words, you are still, however, asked to cite your sources to verify information and to demonstrate that the content is not original research.
 * Our primary policy on using copyrighted content is Copyrights. You may also want to review Copy-paste.
 * In very rare cases (that is, for sources that are public domain or compatibly licensed), it may be possible to include greater portions of a source text. However, please seek help at the help desk before adding such content to the article. 99.9% of sources may not be added in this way, so it is necessary to seek confirmation first. If you do confirm that a source is public domain or compatibly licensed, you will still need to provide full attribution; see Plagiarism for the steps you need to follow.
 * Also note that Wikipedia articles may not be copied without attribution. If you want to copy from another Wikipedia project or article, you can, but please follow the steps in Copying within Wikipedia.

It's very important that contributors understand and follow these practices, as policy requires that people who persistently do not must be blocked from editing. If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. Tb hotch .™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it! See terms and conditions.  02:16, 1 May 2013 (UTC)