User:Shern233/sandbox

Week 4

Blog posts and press releases are considered poor sources of reliable information. Why? Blog posts and press releases are not considered good sources of information because they can be biased by the author and not only include facts but opinions also. Wikipedia is written with facts and leave opinions out in order for the reader to come up with their own thinking process. That is why we should stay away from acquiring information from blog posts or press releases.

What are some reasons you might not want to use a company's website as the main source of information about that company? When someone talks about themselves they may say non-factual information on order to market themselves better, that is the same reason we shouldn't use autobiographies when writing about a person. Also, when talking about themselves they may use adjectives that are heavy in opinion besides fact based.

What is the difference between a copyright violation and plagiarism? Copyright and plagiarism are similar but at the same time different. Copyright is basically using someone's work without their permission, while plagiarism is using someone's work as your own without accrediting them. Copyright is a legal issue while plagiarism is a moral issue.

What are some good techniques to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism? One effective way of avoiding plagiarism is to thoroughly read the subject and get comfortable with the information so it can be then written in your own words. Stay away from changing word by word with a synonym since this is still considered plagiarism

Week 5

Article of Choice Moreau de Saint-Méry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Louis_%C3%89lie_Moreau_de_Saint-M%C3%A9ry

I chose this article above because apart from it being my character in a class assignment. When I came to look for information on it there wasn't enough information to have a broad idea of Moreau. I have done research on Moreau and have found a couple of sources that give me the ability to add necessary information to this article. Also on the French and Italian article, there is more information and additional sources that I can use to add information. There hasn't been much activity on the talk page of this article, only being 10 edits since 2007 and most of them being minimal. The last edit before mine dates back to February of 2016, that being already a year old, indicating the lack of activity on this page

What do you plan to add to the article?

I plan on adding information about his writings and activity while he stayed in the United States. Also, I want to add information concerning his involvement in France during the time of the revolution and his connections with different characters of importance.

Notes for improvement

• Include more information in the first heading about his early life and basic information regarding Moreau
• Add to his political life and involvements
• Specify the main topics of his writings and give an insight into his views

Drafting

Introductory text

Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry (13 January 1750 – 28 January 1819) son of Bertrand-Médéric and Marie-Rose Moreau de Saint-Méry was born in Fort-Royale, Martinique He was a lawyer and writer with a career in public office in France, Martinique, and Saint-Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti). He is best known for his publications on Saint Domingue and Martinique. He married into a well-positioned family which allowed him to expand his connections among french people and with time positioned him as a member of the Parliament of France. Moreau was deeply involved in the founding of the Museum of France which he was later appointed president of in 1787

Education and Influences

Although he did not come from a family of significant means, Moreau used the inheritance he received from his grandfather to study law in Paris. There, he argued that colonial law, drafted in France, was not fitting for the realities of the French Caribbean.[2] Then h e was a freemason and a member of the Cercle des Philadelphes — a colonial scientific society — and sought to document life in the colonies.[3] He was influenced by the scientific projects of the Enlightenment.[4]

Writings

Moreau produced in-depth studies of the colonies only years before St-Domingue’s revolution. As such, he spent time traveling in the Caribbean and returning to France to write and lobby until his involvement with the French Revolution led to the issuing of a warrant for his arrest. His most notable work, Déscription de la partie française de Saint-Domingue, which he wrote in 1789, has not been translated into English. During his stay in Saint-Domingue. Moreau felt frustrated because of the lack of information the colonialists had on the colonies, which inspired him to start collecting and writing information along the other members of the scientific society he was an integrant of based on the enlightenment idea that knowledge leads to a better governance.

Politics

A well-educated slave owner, he rejected the principle of the Natural Rights of Man in order to defend legal slavery and segregation on the basis of race. In his roles in the French parliament and on the colonial Governing Boards, he sought to maintain an economic system based on slave labor. To this end, he pursued the rights of colonists — mostly white planters — and sought a degree of self-determination for the French Caribbean. Moreau returned to France in 1788, where he became part of the Estates General which later named themselves as the National Assembly. There he represented the planters in Saint-Domingue and supported slavery, confronting the Society of the Friends of the Blacks. He had an important position in the founding of the Museum of Paris which he was later appointed president of in 1787. After his return to Far89, after his exile in the United States, Moreau's first position was that of a historian in the Ministry of the Marine. A couple years later, in 1802 he became administrator of Parma, Piacenza, and Gustalla, but later on his position was taken away by Napoleon because of his forgiving response towards a criminal conspiracy among the army.

Moreau in the United States (New Section)

Moreau escaped Paris after a warrant for his arrest was placed in 1794. He relocated to Philadelphia after a short stay in New York, leaving all his research on the Colony of Saint-Dominique behind, which he later was able to recover. In Philadelphia, he opened a bookstore in which he sold books and prints in many languages, as well as maps and music. The bookstore located at Fort and Walnut became the meeting location for many other French exiles. Moreau became a member of the American Philosophical society in 1789, to which he was committed and introduced many of his emigres friends into the Society as well. Moreau had to escape back to Paris in 1789 escaping the Alien Bill imposed by the American president at the time, John Adams.

Week 6

What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of "neutrality"?

Neutrality stands for not supporting or helping either side in a conflict or disagreement. For Wikipedia being neutral means to not be biased when writing a piece of information or have any inclination towards a viewpoint. Whoever contributes to Wikipedia should be writing to explain and provide factual information, not to persuade the reader. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and the information writtien in it must be factual, instead of favoring any viewpoint or argument

What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information?

Wikipedia is visited by millions of people daily and all people all around the world rely on it for factual information. People that read Wikipedia believe the information to be truthful and use it for their papers, projects or just to win an argument. Wikipedia has a big impact on people all around the word because, with the availability of technology, this is their main source of information. However, Wikipedia serves as a summary of any topic, and it is only for basic information. On the other hand, if people are looking for more in-depth information on any topic, the references in the Bibliography section of any article, usually located at the bottom is a valuable resource since most if the information written on these articles was drawn from those sources.

On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude? Can you think of any problems that might create?

Wikipedia is very specific when it comes to what sources contributors include in their writing. Certain sources are told to be avoided by contributors, these include blog posts, small publications, and web pages that are not backed up by a recognizable organization. These guidelines are necessary for the maintenance the quality of Wikipedia because these sources of information that are written by an individual may be heavily biased towards a certain argument or conflict, not giving and explanatory, neutral view on the topic. As expressed before Wikipedia was created to inform, not to persuade and if the information was biased there would be a problem; however, by Wikipedia implementing these guidelines, it keeps away any source of problems that may be present when adding information.

If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now? If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, which is impossible because of the lack of technology and availability of computers, the content on it and contributors would be completely different from what it is nowadays. If we look back in time, there was a small percentage of the population that was literate in 1917, which will immensely decrease the number of contributors, also, there would be a lot of articles that wouldn't exist given that much history has happened since 1917.

Wikipedia in 100 years from now would be quite interesting to admire. Given a number of things that are happening right now in the world and how technology is improving at a fast pace, Wikipedia might be the online portal for all the information existing in the world. With technological improvements Wikipedia might become available to every person on earth, meaning everyone would have information at the click of a button. Also as the availability of computers expand, more poeople would be available to contribute first hand information to Wikipedia, expanding the amount of information available

Bibliographies

American Biographies. By Wheeler Preston. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1940

Who Was Who in America. A component volume of Who's Who in American History. Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Revised Edition. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967

Dictionary of American Biography. Volumes 1-20. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928-1936

The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square

Moreau de Saint Mery and His French Friends in the American Philosophical Society

Dubois, Laurent (2004). Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.