Research Tutorial

Citing Sources- Why It's Important

The fact that there is a section in this tutorial about citations should come as no surprise to anyone. For most people, the need to "cite your sources" has been drummed into them for many years.

But why? Why exactly is it so important?

Really, it all comes down to acknowledging the work that someone else did. People go to a lot of time and effort (A LOT!) when they publish a book or an article. It can take years of research and writing and editing before something gets published. It's only fair that if you use the work that they did, that you acknowledge that they did it.

You wouldn't want someone else taking credit for work that you did, would you?

So that's the point behind citing your sources—to acknowledge the time and effort that someone else spent researching and writing about the topic (not to mention avoiding being in violation of the University's Academic Honesty Policy), and to let other people know how to find that work (and yes, professors really do track down the sources you cite.)