Module 4: Introduction to Citing Sources
Why are accurate citations important?

dialogue: (di a log')


BLOB_1 Academic work is a dialogue that joins the ideas of the living and the dead with your own. It is meant to invite others to communicate about the content,
BLOB_2 and add your own contributions and your ideas about the work of others which you are striving to understand.

Web of Ideas and you


BLOB_1. Compositions are the weaving of ideas and practices. These works do not spring out of themselves but are linked to other compositions and other methods of conversation. So, because your work is joining a complex web, linking yourself to other creators and other readers, accurate references are important.
BLOB_2. An accurate indication of the work of others is the best approach to present the speaker being brought into the conversation.
BLOB_3. That speaker has probably referenced others farther in the past.
BLOB_4. While your place in the academic endeavor may be a future issue, of an immediate importance to you might be your grade.

Bad cite, bad person?


BLOB_1. Incorrect, inaccurate and inadequate citing of sources are the most common origins of the charge of plagiarism.
BLOB_2. So knowing how and when to cite materials is of paramount importance beyond the developing the presentation of interesting and coherent ideas.
BLOB_3. Students who have gained a command of the art of referencing have to others become skilled researchers and reporters, interested in accurate detail and the need for clarity and sharing in communication.
BLOB_4. In other words, brightly or brongly, folks will assess you as not "edgucated" (accurate spelling has a similar effect.) if you do not learn the skill.
BLOB_5. In the following pages, you should be able to learn enough about the needs of adequate citing to carry out basic research projects and be able to ask the appropriate questions of your teaching faculty, Writing Center peers and find appropriate answers in style guides in the library.


4. Hey, we are librarians, we feel compelled…:
Just a couple of references:


Howard, Rebecca Moore. Standing in the shadow of giants: plagiarists, authors, collaborators. Stamford, Conn.: Ablex Pub., 1999.
Mallon, Thomas. Stolen words: forays into the origins and ravages of plagiarism. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1989.
St. Onge, K. R. The melancholy anatomy of plagiarism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988.

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Last Updated: 7/15/24