In an effort to better the quality of our site, your friendly, neighborhood CBM editors will be posting weekly tutorials showcasing available features that you can use to garner more attention to your Fansites and articles If you already you have any requests for topics you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to contact us at any time.
PLAGIARISM
How many times have you found a cool bit of news or interview and wanted to share it here at CBM? The easiest thing to do is copy and paste the info and put it into an article here. Simply put, that is plagiarism. It is wrong and in most cases, illegal even if you cite your source correctly.
What is plagiarism? Well, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means:
- to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
- to use (another's production) without crediting the source
- to commit literary theft
- to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
So, what does this mean for you or me when posting an article here at CBM? The core rules can be found in our
Style Guide. Here is a screenshot highlighting the plagiarism section:
Let me reprint that section, in case you can't view the screenshot.
We cannot abide PLAGIARISM!
- When aggregating news from other websites, avoid taking too much.
- ALWAYS credit your source. Use the "source" fields in your newstool.
- Rewrite and provide unique content whenever possible.
So, what are some tips to use when you want to post some CBM news you found at another site? First off, go to the original source whenever possible. If MTV is quoting Entertainment Weekly, go to Entertainment Weekly as your source. This gives you the most information available and can save you the headache of another source misquoting someone.
When you find news, put it in your own words. You can even pull information from multiple sources to make a well rounded and informative article. Just make sure both are properly credited (i.e. you can add their individual links in your article). With every article you post, check thoroughly for spelling and grammar errors; the less our site editors have to fix, the more likely your article makes it to the CBM homepage. Make sure does not come across like a message board thread or a cell phone text.
On interview articles, rephrase the interviewer's question into your own words. Do not change the quote of the person being interviewed though. It is always best to use quotation marks, " ", around the quote.
When pulling from other sources, avoid taking the whole article. This is especially true for long articles and interviews. With short pieces of news, it is acceptable as long as your never take the entire source article. Official press releases can be copied and pasted into articles in their entirety since their purpose is verbatim public dissemination.
Lastly, remember to
cite (give credit to) the source of your article! The site name and url address need to be filled out on news, scoops, features and editorial pieces that are aggregated from someone else. This is proper journalistic etiquette, and CBM editors need to be able to verify your article. If we can't find your source, odds are the article will be deleted. The two sections are right after the Title and Article Type sections. Both are highlighted below:
User contributions that do NOT follow these guidelines may be deleted. If you ever have any questions about this subject or anything else, feel free to contact any of the editors via the Contact Me tab on their articles or fansite.
Don't forget to check out the videos
TUTORIALS and step-by-step instructions located in your Comic Book Movie
STYLE GUIDE!
In case you missed these other ComicBookMovie 101 tutorials, here are step-by-step instructions on how to:
Create & Post Polls
Add Images to Articles