Why Cite?

The primary purpose of citing is not to torture students and drive them insane, although it can feel like that at times. Believe it or not, one of citing’s main functions is to actually help students and researches do their research more quickly and effectively. No, I’m not lying. Citing can actually help you. Let’s talk about some of the more obvious reasons for citing. First and foremost, you have to cite because your professor said so. Creating in-text and full citations is one part of writing a research paper that you just can’t skip. You also have to cite, because it helps you avoid plagiarism. You’re giving credit to those authors who spent endless hours researching and writing. If you don’t believe me, just ask any of your instructors how long it took them to write for a publication or create a thesis or dissertation for their degree. It simply wouldn’t be fair to pass off their hard work as your own. Citations also show that you did research and what types of sources you used. The in-text citations show what ideas and facts are your own and what came from other authors. Your professor can see how you took bits and pieces of information from multiple sources, combined them, and created new thoughts and ideas from these combinations. Finally, citations can help you. Let’s say you’re researching a very difficult topic and find only one source that works for your research. You need at least 5 sources for your paper though. Luckily, the author of that work cited their sources, so now you can find these and use them for your own research. Now that you have 5 good reasons to cite your sources, please watch the next tutorial to learn what needs to be cited and what doesn’t.