Lets talk about citing sources on the discussion board. I'll start by saying, if you're going to cite a wiki article you better scroll down to their notes and check their citations. If they are using unreliable sources, obscure news blogs, biased news networks, or better yet have no citation or references. Then you should probably dig through their notes then go read the articles that apply to your argument and use them instead of the wiki page as a whole.

Second, answer websites, forums, and personal blogs based on opinions are not things to reference. I think citing any of those should be grounds to delete a post.

Third, not citing a source. Stahp. I don't care if at the end you just say its from personal experience, but you better be able to back it. I'll give you an example:

"Rieslings pair well with most pork dishes"
I drink wine.(Wrong)
I've been a wine drinker for years(Passable)
I was a waiter in a fine dining establishment, we learned about wine pairings through a three day wine seminar.(Good)
I worked as a wine connoisseur for many years at a fine dining establishment(Best)

You don't need a study or an article to prove it, just tell us what you found in your experience and what your experience is.

I understand somethings are personal opinion, if that is the case then say it."In my opinion" Is a great way to start your sentence. Some discussions will be mostly based on opinions others you will have people throwing facts out left and right. If its a discussion with a lot of room for opinions then just try to make sure no one will take what you said as a factual statement.


/discuss because I've seen yahoo answers cited and it makes me upset.