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Plagiarism for Students: Understanding and Avoiding: Citing

Reasons why to cite a source

Why Cite Sources?

  • Gives credit to authors whose works you have used

  • Provides a trail by which others can locate the materials you consulted

  • Provides evidence of your research

  • Properly citing materials is one strategy to help you avoid plagiarizing

What needs to be cited:

What Needs to Be Cited?

•Anything you’ve learned from your research sources
•Information that would not be common knowledge, even if you knew it before
•Summaries
•Paraphrases
•Direct quotes
 

What does not need to be cited:

What Does Not Need to Be Cited?

  • Common knowledge - things like the year the Declaration of Independence was written or the name of your state’s capital
  • Your original thoughts, creation and synthesis of knowledge
  • Your own conclusions or interpretations