• 11
    Jan
    2010
  • How can I copy a quote from an online article with violating copyright laws?
    posted by Kris Nickerson

I’m currently writing a research paper, and I was wondering if I can copy a quote directly from an online article. For example, if the article contains "Insert words here" says Joe the Plumber. Would it be okay for me to quote the same words by Joe the Plumber in my article if I give it credit? If not, what should I do instead? Thanks so much.

The reason why most profs and teachers don’t like online articles is because they often have no author cited, thus no credibility. However, there are often articles in reputable papers and journals where authors don’t get a ‘by-line’, i.e. they write on behalf of the organization and the organization takes the credit. As long as the online article is from a reputable source, though, you can cite it.

Ahh, but how do I know what a reputable source is? This is difficult– it’s really more art than science. Here are some guidelines:

1. No user generated content: i.e. no Wikipedia, no Helium, no eHow, basically none of those ‘get paid pennies per click to view some crap info you cooked up to ‘get rich blogging’ (yeah, right, when has that ever happened?)

2. No quotes from a guy named ‘Joe the Plumber.’ Anyone named this would almost certainly not have anything of worth to say on the topic.

To cite an online article: Give the author or sponsoring organization, date of publication, name of website it was published on, web address, and then the date you accessed that information. The way you present that information varies based on format (i.e. Chicago, Turabian, APA, MLA, etc.) so you have to consult particular style references to help you with that.

The main point is to give the url where you found the info and the date you accessed the info. And use reputable sources, since the interwebs is full of such horse**** so often.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 7:04 am and is filed under Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “How can I copy a quote from an online article with violating copyright laws?”

jeff Says:
January 11th, 2010 at 7:52 am

The reason why most profs and teachers don’t like online articles is because they often have no author cited, thus no credibility. However, there are often articles in reputable papers and journals where authors don’t get a ‘by-line’, i.e. they write on behalf of the organization and the organization takes the credit. As long as the online article is from a reputable source, though, you can cite it.

Ahh, but how do I know what a reputable source is? This is difficult– it’s really more art than science. Here are some guidelines:

1. No user generated content: i.e. no Wikipedia, no Helium, no eHow, basically none of those ‘get paid pennies per click to view some crap info you cooked up to ‘get rich blogging’ (yeah, right, when has that ever happened?)

2. No quotes from a guy named ‘Joe the Plumber.’ Anyone named this would almost certainly not have anything of worth to say on the topic.

To cite an online article: Give the author or sponsoring organization, date of publication, name of website it was published on, web address, and then the date you accessed that information. The way you present that information varies based on format (i.e. Chicago, Turabian, APA, MLA, etc.) so you have to consult particular style references to help you with that.

The main point is to give the url where you found the info and the date you accessed the info. And use reputable sources, since the interwebs is full of such horse**** so often.
References :

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