hallo everybody Maybe most of you already have a clear picture about this issue. But i still confused. I mean, if i do a light research (read some article) and then i write an article based on my understanding from the research with my own word. Isn't it just the same with rewritten an article? because : 1. It's a derivative work from someone's else article. 2. I use the fact that's stated on the reference articles. please enlighted me up thanks
When you lightly research on the web and write this in your own words then this probably does mean you have just rewritten it if you haven't credited their site or used your own ideas. This is also plagiarism, but unfortunately it happens a lot online. You could use articles online and link to them as well as arguing with or expanding on points, making your article more original. Including references could even add weight to your article, if you choose a reliable source, as well as avoiding plagiarism issues. As for those clients who ask for rewritten articles, that is not necessarily plagiarism as they will often provide you with articles they already own so that you can rewrite them x amount of times. People like to have unique versions of the same article to promote their sites, as the search engines don't like seeing the same content duplicated over and over again. Hope that makes sense.
Here's the thing....when you read one article as "research" who do you think wrote that article? Obviously, a writer- just like you. Did that writer use only one article in order to do their research? My point is that it is never a good idea to use only one source for an article. The only exception I can think of would be if you were using a manufacturer's website to write an article on a product. Even then, unless you've used the product yourself, you're only presenting 1, definitely positive POV and that's not necessarily helpful to the reader (obviously copywriting is a different story). If you use 1 article as your research then you are probably including no opposing viewpoints, you may be continuing the proliferation of bad information- since you haven't double checked the info provided in the sole article, and you are rewriting something someone else has already written. Light research for me means I read a few articles/ information sources (articles are not always a good idea) (at least 3) briefly look at some chats or guestbook interactions on the subject and maybe take a gander at trade journals or something. All of this helps to add dimension, information and hard facts to my articles. That means it's a win-win for both my client and his/her readers. Heavy research means finding studies, listening to sound clips or watching videos, going to the library, calling a friend or associate in that industry or with experience in that topic, emailing "experts" or the closest thing I can find, etc.
Prinzel, In my opinion, reading even 3 articles doesn't counts as research if you do not know where to look (i.e. just google the title and don't go beyond the first page). This is specially true for popular topics like MLM, money making and the like. Also, you need to spend time with a subject, at least an hour or so to assimilate the information and let your brain process it. (Don't tell me that my brain is lazy )
Your brain is not lazy If you are doing light research on a topic, chances are you already know something about it. 3 articles (really, 3 additional sources of information- not articles, I should have specified that), hopefully with a couple of contrasting viewpoints would be the minimum for light research. You are right that choosing the first few articles that come up from google is not a good idea. You have to find those that are informative and do some cross referencing to make sure you've got articles with good information. But again, light research means the buyer is probably getting a deal on the content, which means that a writer can not spend 5 hours, taking copious notes, examining medical journals, researching ingredients, whatever. Although, niche writing can involve light research too since the writer is an expert in that field. Niche writing is generally backed by years of firsthand industry experience, education and expertise- so you'd be paying for that tremendous background as well as the light research a niche writer does to complete your particular article.
In the specific case the OP gave, they're the same thing. Why? Because looking at a single article / source doesn't equate to "research" - even light research. Research has to involve some level of verification, and you cannot verify what you read in a single source without going beyond that source.