Wikipedia:Copying text from other sources

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In 99.9% of cases, you may not copy and paste text from other sources into Wikipedia. Doing so is a copyright violation and may constitute plagiarism.[1] Always write the articles in your own words and cite the sources of the article. Copyright violations are often speedily deleted.

Can I copy and paste text to Wikipedia that I got from somewhere else?[edit]

Main page: Wikipedia:Copyrights
Further information: Wikipedia:FAQ/Copyright

As a general rule, do not copy and paste text from other sources. Doing so usually constitutes both a copyright violation and plagiarism (exceptions are discussed below). This general rule includes copying and pasting material from websites of charity or non-profit organizations, educational, scholarly and news publications, and all sources without a copyright notice. If a work does not have a copyright notice, assume it to be under copyright-protection.[2]

But surely I can copy from this?[edit]

It is acceptable to copy and paste text from public domain sources or those that are explicitly licensed under a compatible licensing scheme. (In case of the latter, attribution of the original author may be required: see Wikipedia:Plagiarism.) However, copying and pasting contents from all other sources entails what is explained above.

In case of uncertainty, please ask at Wikipedia talk:Copyright problems or Wikipedia:Help desk for input from other editors.

I own the source, or work for the owner of the source, can I copy it to Wikipedia?[edit]

Shortcut:

Generally no, unless the source is already under a license compatible with Wikipedia (such as CC-by-SA), or is placed under that license immediately after a copyright violation is suspected on Wikipedia, or you donate the source under a free license. In the vast majority of cases donating text is not a particularly good idea, because it's simpler to paraphrase and attribute the source, and the tone and structure of the source itself might not be appropriate for an encyclopedia article to begin with.

It's unfortunately common for inexperienced editors who create new articles or edit existing ones to copy and paste from other websites, and become frustrated when their contributions are removed or articles tagged for speedy deletion, when their argument is that they own the source material. For example, a biography might be created about a subject such as a person or company that already has a website with information about them. It's simpler to use the website as a paraphrased source than it is to donate the relevant contents of the website to paste them into the Wikipedia article (however, the use of "primary" sources is generally discouraged). This is especially true for most organizations, which are often reluctant or simply unable to place their websites or other works under free content licenses.

Can I copy and paste if I change the text a little bit?[edit]

Further information: Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing

No. Superficial change of copyright-protected text is not enough. Wikipedia articles must be written in the author's own words. If the way in which a source has said something is important, please employ quotation.

Can I copy and paste text into a user page or talk page in order to work on it?[edit]

No. Wikipedia cannot host copyrighted material anywhere, not even in talk or user pages, not even temporarily.[3]

What about quotes?[edit]

Main page: Wikipedia:Non-free content
Further information: Wikipedia:Quotations

Brief quotations of copyrighted text may be used to illustrate a point, establish context, or attribute a point of view or idea[4] Use of copyrighted text must be in compliance with Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria policy.

How about copying and pasting from one Wikipedia article to another?[edit]

Main page: Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia

Yes, you can copy parts of one Wikipedia article into another, but you must link to the source article in your edit summary.[5] Original content contributed by users can be freely used if the original author is properly attributed. If you have copied text but forgotten to use the edit summary, this can be easily corrected: You can make a dummy edit by making an inconsequential change to the article—such as adding a blank line to the end of the article—and link to the source article in edit summary then. A note such as "content copied from [[source article]] on 1 January 2012" works fine.

Edit summary (Briefly describe your changes)

 

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Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Wilfried Decoo (2002). Crisis on Campus: Confronting Academic Misconduct. MIT Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-262-26243-9. 
  2. ^ Most websites (and other sources) are automatically protected by copyright under rules such as the Berne Convention, even if the author did not apply for copyright or place a copyright notice in their work.
  3. ^ Phoebe Ayers; Charles Matthews; Ben Yates (2008). How Wikipedia Works: And how You Can be a Part of it. No Starch Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-59327-176-3. 
  4. ^ Richard Beach; Chris M. Anson; Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch; Thomas Reynolds (2014). Understanding and Creating Digital Texts: An Activity-Based Approach. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4422-2874-0. 
  5. ^ Marvin Zelkowitz (2010). Advances in Computers: Improving the Web. Academic Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-12-381020-5. 
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