Hi
Metraman - welcome to the forum!
Concerning your question, check out pages 21/22 on the iPad2 User's Manual - a brief explanation on editing/copying/pasting is provided.
Basically, if you hold your finger on a word, a magnifying glass will first appear which allows you to position the cursor for editing; if you release your finger, then a small blue box will highlight the word; blue control buttons in the upper left & lower right corners are also present, along w/ several menu choices including copy - just move the blue control buttons to include all of the text you may want to copy and paste - please post back here if you are still having a problem - good luck!