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Researching content from Internet

content writing, research January 22nd, 2007

When doing research on a particular topic for writing an article, is it worthwhile trying to base your information from existing websites e.g. from wikipedia or authority websites for the topic?

It just seems like a meaningless exercise in just re-hashing information that’s already available on the web thereby lowering the overall value of your content/article.

But I guess it is still a good practice as Internet is good to use as a starter, so you know which areas you need to research. It is important to ensure that some of your research is either your first-hand research or research using off-line (newspapers, books, magazines).

The net is best seen as a starting point full of hints and tips rather than an actual authority on facts.

The best way to confirm something is true is to go as close to the original source as possible, which may be offline or online. Just go as close as you can to the origin of a story.

Here is an example of how content can come in Authority websites though its not always the case.


“I have a reference phrase that cannot be found any other place on the WWW; however it appeared on a wikipedia after my webpage went online ;)

“Anybody” may change/edit most wikipedia pages at any time.
Should they choose, even injecting false materials?
Unless the person returns that created the text at wikipedia an updates, the incorrect material gets spidered and indexed.”

We all see things differently, and we all describe things differently.

There is rehashing and then there is my interpretation of what I read elsewhere.

The two are not the same.

2 Responses to “Researching content from Internet”

  1. petals Says:
    January 25th, 2007 at 2:03 am

    Ravi,

    True. Interpretation is far from rehashing. ‘Re-hashing’ with the material available online is far from easy! As you said one point is VALIDITY of the information. The other thing of course is to know what can VALID info can be rehashed and what cannot. Because if a source says “cats are aggressive” and you have to rehash it, there are only fewer ways of doing. Knowing when to copy and when not to copy is the key here!

    Of course, even for a starter I will not suggest to take content from wikipedia! Wikipedia is ONLY a good source for a Starter to understand the terminology. Using this terminology, one needs to find info. However, the sources provided in wikipedia will help a lot!

  2. The Crazy Mind » The mystery of keyword density Says:
    March 5th, 2007 at 12:04 am

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