I have posted this before, but I think it is necessary. Many people say that it is only plagiarism or original research, and that "summaries" are plagiarism. I will put forth my rule of thumb that ensures that both plagiarism and original research can't happen, then explain why people don't follow this.

When I talk to people, I tell them that, at the minimum, to summarize 10 sentences from a source with one sentence (when not directly quoting). Realistically, 1 sentence in an article should be a summary of 1 page in a book.

By summarizing that much into one sentence, you are forced to condense the language and ideas. You get rid of the flak, get more to the point, and it shows that your topic is more notable.

But why don't people do this? Many reasons:

1. Notability - most articles are on non-notable topics. People desperate to promote their favorite thing want to make a large article even though there are few sources. So, they take one sentence to make one sentence. Such was the case of Samus Aran, which ended up lifting passages from video game sites on game mechanics. Such clearly were not needed. However, there were no "books" on the topic so the writer wanting to make the topic seem great had to scrap the bottom of the barrel.

2. Laziness - some people don't want to go to a library, find books, and do research. Instead, they click google, type in some stuff, and start pulling stuff over. Since it takes work to summarize, they just don't. This was what Rlevse did and what Carcharoth would do.

3. Uncreative - summarizing takes thought and some people just can't think.

4. Trying to "win" - contests like WikiCup pit obviously skilled writers versus those that aren't. So, what happens when someone wants to win and lacks any ability? They cheat. It happens in any sport. Does that make the sport wrong? No. But sports should ban such people. Roger Davies and Carcharoth both were taking material from sites or books whole sale to produce pages faster for various contests. After all, contests give points and points are how you win the Wiki.



By summarizing a lot into a little, that isn't plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking someone else's words and saying they are your own. Original Research is making claims without any credible source to back them up, thus making you the authority (and no, you aren't an authority).