4.1 Introduction to Citing
Learning Outcomes
After completing this chapter you will be able to:
- State why citing your sources is important
- Paraphrase correct
- Use common citation styles
- Avoid plagiarism
Why do we cite?
It’s important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:
- To back up your claims – show you’ve done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
- To give credit – be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
- To avoid plagiarism – do not claim the words and ideas of other authors
- To share your sources – allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper
