Citing Sources

Introduction

Citing (also known as referencing) is the practice of acknowledging in your paper the sources from which you obtained information. You cite your sources by providing information about the author’s name, publication date, and so on. Citations may take the form of parenthetical notes like this (Smith, 2002, p. 67), or footnotes, or endnotes.

The citations tell your reader where you found the information you are using. Citing your sources properly is one of the BEST defences against plagiarism. By citing your sources you are acknowledging that the words or ideas are borrowed, not your own.

The section which follows will give you a basic introduction on what to cite and how to cite. The key point to keep in mind here is the why of citation: you are citing to ensure that you have not committed plagiarism.

what to cite tree-UCSD-500.jpg

Does everything have to be cited?

You must provide a citation for any facts, ideas, or data which you took from another source. The only time you do not need to cite is when the fact or idea is "common knowledge" (see below). You also have to provide a citation for any images, graphs, maps, sound files, etc. unless you created them yourself.

Common Knowledge

The term "common knowledge" refers to facts or ideas which are widely known or widely agreed upon. For example:

Ottawa is the capital of Canada
Pierre Elliott Trudeau died on September 28, 2000

Because the above facts are widely known, you do not have to cite the source where you found them. On the other hand, the following statement about Pierre Elliott Trudeau is not a widely known fact. It is an author’s opinion, and a citation is required:

“In his sixteen years of office, Pierre Elliott Trudeau made himself a nuisance by inserting the tentacles of government where they had no place to be: in the private lives of the citizens” (McDonald, 1995, p.13).

Common knowledge can be tricky. Students quite reasonably say, “I don't know if this is widely known or agreed upon.” If you are unsure whether a fact or idea is common knowledge, cite your source! Generally, most of the information in your paper will not fall into the common knowledge category.

Image credit: The Library UC San Diego under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (BY-NC)