Participating, not listening

First of all, I think every student knows by now that cutting and pasting a "well phrased thought or opinion" does NOT make it their own. We are reminded every semester.

We know how to cite sources and make a bibliography, and if we don't then there's always site such as EasyBib that will do it for us.

Maybe today's audience isn't listening at all and just participating. In fact, they (especially teachers and professors) have always pushed kids to participate. Remember, its part of the grading system. So maybe active listening is out in order for us just to participate and make grades.

Participating is also something anybody can do especially when it comes to writing and posting. A great example of this is Wikipedia. Anybody can go in there, write what they want (correct or incorrect) cite it or don't cite it.

This causes problems obviously for students looking for information or anybody reading it in general. How will we cite a great piece of writing if there's nothing to cite? What will Easybib even cite?!

Yes, those posting to Wikipedia may or may not know (or care) about the concept of authorships/ownerships, but then again that's not their fault.

Wikipedia was created and gave users a chance to participate.

The people behind the Internet knew putting information out there had to pose major risks. Its an obviously fact to consider.