Plagiarism and Citations

What is Citation?

Citation or citing sources means to include select information about books or articles you read on a topic and use in your paper. Citation is required when quoting, paraphrasing, or using the ideas (artwork, photos, videos, etc.) or words of others.

Why Do We Cite?

1. Citation is how we give credit to those individuals or organizations whose information we borrow. When we use an individual’s or organization’s ideas, words, artwork, or anything else, we are to give credit to the source of that information.
2. Citation also provides interested readers with the specifics needed to retrieve the same source and do more research on their own. The in-text citation shows readers where certain ideas or words in your paper came from, and this shortened version of citation cross-references the full citation at the end of the paper. From the full citation, readers have all of the information they need to retrieve a source.
3. Citation additionally prevents plagiarism, which deprives writers of the opportunity to join ongoing conversations about a topic, compromises a writer’s integrity and reputation, and usually results in serious consequences, both within the university and in the world of work.

Excerpt from Purdue Global