Nobody is an expert on everything, and it is important to add to your knowledge, check your knowledge, or refresh your knowledge by researching your topic before you write and publish your articles (unless your article is simply an opinion piece).

Researching and sourcing information is a perfectly valid thing to do when writing an article, because if writers only wrote about what they knew, little would be written. Writers owe it to themselves and to their readers to expand their knowledge by researching their topics. This is what all good journalists do.

Having said that, there are important rules. The first of these is to check the validity and reliability of your sources. If you are researching on the Internet, make sure your source is genuine. If it is, it will have an author, a date, and usually an address. Do not use unreliable sources such as Wikipedia or Answers.com, since these are often incorrect or misleading. Find the root source of the information. For example, for a recent article I wrote on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I went straight to noaa.gov, and took no notice of the Wikipedia or Answer.com entries on the same subject.

Secondly, never rely on one source of information, because it could be wrong or biased. Always double check. Find several reliable sources of information and check one against the other.

Thirdly, use your sources to increase your knowledge, not to simplify the writing process. Research the topic, and then write without referring to your sources. Never, ever cut and paste from your sources to your article. To do this is plagiarism, and plagiarism is pathetic, weak, cheating, and does nothing for anyone. It will also get you thrown off this site, and will give you a bad reputation.

Researching and writing an article takes time, but it is worth it, both in terms of financial rewards in the long run, but also in the satisfaction it gives you in knowing you've done the best job you can do at the time.

Learn more about this author, Lin Edwards.
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