Wikinews:Plagiarism

The following is a proposed Wikinews guideline. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as "policy".

Shortcut: WN:Plagiarism

Policies and Guidelines

Neutral point of view Content guide Style guide

Ignore all rules

Administrators

For Wikipedians

Accreditation Archive conventions Avoid weasel words Blocking Bots CheckUsers Cite sources Conflict of interest Copyright Dispute resolution Deletion Speedy deletion Don't disrupt Wikinews to illustrate a point Fair use Global permissions Image use Naming conventions Newsworthiness Oversight Original reporting Permission expiry Page protection Reviewing Three reverts Username

Etiquette

Note: This page is a rewritten version of the original proposed guideline now located at User:Brian_McNeil/Wikinews:Plagiarism. The original talk page content has been restored here for continuity. However, the history of this page does not reflect the full, historical development of the proposal, which is preserved at User:Brian_McNeil/Wikinews:Plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the act of using another person’s work—whether words, structure, or ideas—without proper attribution, and presenting it as your own.

Wikinews considers the following to be plagiarism:

• Copying full or partial sentences from a source without quotation or clear attribution.
• Minor rewording or synonym-swapping without substantive rewriting, also called "scuffing up."
• Stitching together small fragments from one or more sources to form a paragraph without original synthesis or voice.
• Failing to cite the source of information or phrasing, even if paraphrased.

Rule of thumb: Reproducing three or more consecutive words from a source without quotation marks is typically considered plagiarism unless the phrase is a proper noun or common expression. This is a guideline, not a hard rule. Context matters.

Journalistic writing must be original. While it's acceptable to research multiple sources, Wikinews articles must reflect your own synthesis, structure, and wording. Merely blending source text is not enough.

Practical tips

• If you needed to paste a content from an external source, enclose in quotation marks immediately and add note which source. Avoid saving pasted content without quoting it as another user may start to edit it without knowing that it's a copy/paste.
• Use Earwig Copyright detector (toolforge.org) to check your writing. A link to Earwig is provided in the {{develop}} and {{review}} templates, so it is easily available at the top of each Wikinews draft for you to access.

Examples

• Copying without quotation or clear attribution
  • BBC says: "UN reported that Iran was the 4th most vulnerable country to climate change, in its 2024 Climate Change Outlook report"
  • Wikinews says: "Iran was assessed as the 4th most vulnerable country to climate change"
    • Better: "The United Nations's 2024 Climate Change Outlook report indicated Iran was on the 4th place in the vulnerability to climate change ranking, citing issues with water supply and droughts" + add link to the report, not only to BBC
• Minor rewording
  • BBC says: "The suspect allegedly entered the building, filled a bag with jeewlry, ran outside, entered his car and left"
  • Wikinews says: "It was alleged that the suspect came into the house, put jewelry into his bag, went to his vehicle and drove away"
    • Better: "The police claimed that the suspect broke and entered to steal jewelry and left by car"
• Switching
  • BBC says: "The conference took place in Paris on 4th Avenue, house 56"
  • CNN says: "The conference had 4500 attendees, primarily of Islamic backround"
  • Wikinews says: "The conference, that took place at 4th Avenue, 56, Paris had 4500 attendees mostly Islamic"
    • Better: The conference was located at a town hall building at 56, 4th Avenue, Paris, France. CNN alleged that the attendees were predominantly from the Islamic community.
• Failing to cite
  • BBC says: "The suspect was a "male in his 60s", police said"
  • Wikinews says: "The police alleged the suspect was a "male in his 60s"" yet in 'Sources' section the BBC source isn't cited.
    • Better: do the same, yet include BBC as citation in 'Sources' section

See also

• User:Brian_McNeil/Wikinews:Plagiarism previous version of this page
• Introduction to writing a Wikinews article