Talk:David J. Schwartz (motivational writer)

Copyright problem

This article was flagged on creation as a copyright concern of [1]. It has been modified since then, but what remains is still very closely paraphrased from that source. This can be a problem under both our copyright policies and our guideline on plagiarism.

While facts are not copyrightable, creative elements of presentation – including both structure and language – are. For an example of close paraphrasing, consider the following: The source says:

He was also President of Creative Educational Services, a consulting firm specialising in leadership development. Starting from a one-room schoolhouse in rural Indiana, David J. Schwartz went on to become the president of his own company and lecturer to more than three thousand trade associations, sales groups and management seminars.

The article says:

Starting from a one room schoolhouse in rural Indiana, David went on to become the president of his own company - Creative Educational Services, a consulting firm specializing in leadership development. He lectured to more than three thousand trade associations and sales groups

To make the problem more clear, I have bolded copied text. Some of it has been moved around, but very little of it is original.

This is an example; here is another: The source says:

The late David Joseph Schwartz was a professor at Georgia State University, Atlanta, and was considered a leading American authority on motivation.

The article says:

David Joseph Schwartz (23 March 1927 - 6 December 1987) was a professor at Georgia State University, Atlanta, and was considered a leading American authority on motivation.

There is very little content in this article that was not copied from that source. Even the remaining sentence, "He was regarded as one of the leading experts on motivation, and his teachings helped many to sell better, manage better, and earn better" closely follows the promotional material: "long regarded as one of the foremost experts on motivation, whose teachings will help you sell better, manage better, earn more money"

As a website that is widely read and reused, Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously to protect the interests of the holders of copyright as well as those of the Wikimedia Foundation and our reusers. Wikipedia's copyright policies require that the content we take from non-free sources, aside from brief and clearly marked quotations, be rewritten from scratch.

The article has been replaced with a notice of these copyright concerns that includes directions for resolving them. If the material can be verified to be compatibly licensed or public domain or if permission is provided, we can use the original text with proper attribution. If you can resolve it that way, please let me know if you need assistance with those directions. Otherwise, so that we can be sure it does not constitute a derivative work, this article should be rewritten; there is a link to a temporary space for that purpose in the instructions which now appear in place of the article. The essay Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing contains some suggestions for rewriting that may help avoid these issues. The article Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-13/Dispatches, while about plagiarism rather than copyright concerns, also contains some suggestions for reusing material from sources that may be helpful, beginning under "Avoiding plagiarism".

I have already removed the creative list of quotes. The quotes themselves may be copyrighted to the original author, but the selection of those quotes as outstanding or in some way remarkable is subject to copyright of its own. Please see Wikipedia:Copyright in lists.

Please let me know at my talk page if you have questions about any of this. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 13:08, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

Neutrality

I've flagged a couple of statements in this article that do not seem in keeping with our core neutrality policy. Who says "his lectures helped many to sell better, manage better, earn better, and lead better"? Who says " He taught people how to achieve what they want by changing their thought patterns and thought habits"? We cannot assert such claims as though they are true, but need to indicate whose opinion we are repeating. See "Avoid stating opinions as facts" in that linked policy. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 18:52, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Assuming it is supported by the source, the first sentence you point out here could be changed to "He was regarded as one of the leading life strategists" without the following information.. The second could be modified to "his strategy was to change peoples' thought patterns and habits". Ryan Vesey Review me! 18:59, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Jr.?

User:StrayBolt, thanks for your improvements to the article. But what is your source for adding "Jr."? He never seems to have referred to himself this way, and the university doesn't use it, nor do his publishers. --MelanieN alt (talk) 20:57, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

User:MelanieN alt, thanks. I saw it first on one of the book ads and then also in his father's (Sr.) obituary. Also is on his dissertation and thesis (I'll add ref to article). I think he rarely used it and dropped any use when he was older. StrayBolt (talk) 22:04, 10 July 2018 (UTC)