MLA: Why Cite?

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Why Citing Sources is Important

In college, we know that we must cite our sources so we don't plagiarize, which is considered a form of cheating and goes against the Academic Honesty Policy. But there's actually much more to citing than that.

  • Citations give credit to the person whose ideas or words we are using. Whenever we use sources such as books, journals, websites, or images in our research, we must give credit to the original author by citing the source. 
  • Citations also add strength and authority to our work. By citing our sources we are placing our work in a specific context to show where the sources “fit” within the larger conversation.
  •  Citations also give our readers the information they need to find that source again, providing an important guide to our research and writing process.

Although many people think citing sources is only needed in school papers, projects, and presentations, it is possible that we may have future jobs which require research. We may need to research a topic for a boss and provide a presentation they can use at an upcoming meeting. Or we may have a job that requires us to do research and publish our results. Proper citations are necessary to provide our boss or readers with information about which resources we used and where they can find them, if needed.

 

All information on this page is adapted from the following source except where otherwise noted.

"Citing Your Sources: The Basics Canvas Module" by Seattle Central College Library (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

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