¶ … confused to hear that a work they are studying has passed into the 'public domain' while other works remain under copyright protection. Why can they not read an entire Harry Potter novel online for free, but they can read the works of Shakespeare? Legally, a "public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone. The reasons that the work is not protected include: (1) the term of copyright for the work has expired; (2) the author failed to satisfy statutory formalities to perfect the copyright or (3) the work is a work of the U.S. Government" (Gasaway 2003) This is why so many of the older, 'great classics' of literature are available online in the public domain, unlike the works of living authors.
The validity of these types of primary sources is usually fairly easy to ascertain, given that there are many examples of the same works of literature all over the Internet. However, evaluating the accuracy of controversial, new information can be more challenging. A credible and non-anonymous author is essential when evaluating a website's veracity. One reason that Wikipedia is not considered a scholarly source is that anyone can edit it, and the credentials of its contributors are not verifiable. Also, the ease of information-generation makes it more likely to be in error. Wikipedia can be edited in a matter of seconds. In contrast, a peer-reviewed journal, by definition, is professionally edited and fact-checked by competent individuals other than the author of a single article. The relatively slow process of publication through a peer-reviewed journal also enhances its accuracy.
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