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What is sourcing ?

Sourcing information is something that human beings do every day of their lives, from birth to death. It is the gathering of information that increases the learning process. Sources range considerably from different aspects of human activity and can include:

*Reading
*Interaction
*M edia

The form that sourcing takes is not as important as the processing of that information since in order to source effectively, there has to be an element of learning. This can be demonstrated by taking the example of two children in a classroom taking examinations. One has learned. One has not, but decides to copy information from another. Child A has sourced correctly and even though their understanding of whatever the subject may be limited by their understanding of it, what they are doing is answering their exam questions using knowledge gained. Child B had the source and did not use it or learn by it.

How this applies on a writing site.

On a writing site or in magazine work, writers work to given titles, and are expected either to have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter to write, or to source out the information. A gray area applies when a writer takes the Child B option, finds sources, copies them down and then changes a few words and calls them their own. Others source information on one website alone, and based on what little knowledge they glean from that one source, assume it to be fact, learn nothing more, and write a half informed article that only sees one viewpoint, i.e. That of their source.

Ethics come into play here because what the writer is doing is stealing ideas. They may not copy them word for word, but the writer themselves is weakening their repertoire other than strengthening it because their source is so limited in it's scope and not learned, simply mimicked.

Ethical sourcing.

To source ethically, which is an acceptable practice, reading many sites and learning about the subject, drawing conclusions from a mixture of opinion will not only produce a better article, but will produce an ethical one. If snippets are used from a source using the wording exactly as found, these must be cited as they are not original and it is unethical not to put those words into inverted commas and to site where they came from. These can be used to strengthen an article's argument, though the argument itself should always be the conception of the writer themselves.

The benefits of ethical sourcing.

While sourcing from one site may give quick information, sourcing

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