Recently, I've seen alot of posts using cut-n-pastes from wikipedia. . .now, I love wikipedia - BUT - for those of you who may NOT be aware - wikipedia is not a credible source. We aren't allowed to use it as a reference for any paper in university, and anyone who wants to be taken seriously as a scholar and researcher would lose all credibility by using wikipedia as a direct reference.
Wikipedia is user-created - which means I can create a wiki on any subject I choose (whether I know anything about it or not). Others can edit whatever I come up (whether they know anything about it or not). It's been the subject of lawsuits because information posted on it has been wrong, inflammatory, and slanderous - yet re-posted in the media as actual fact.
Wikipedia is a great place to start b/c a credible wiki will list original sources at the bottom - but check out the original sources and do your research from there. That way you have a better chance of knowing the information is accurately quoted and portrayed as originally intended (kind of like when you check the original sources on the Creation book and you find out the "quotes" are not as they were originally written)!
Seeing wikipedia used as a primary source discredits the "research". Of course, a cut and paste without any thoughtful commentary does the same thing, but that's not the point here.