Why we cite:

Citing is an important part of the research process, but before we begin covering the different styles and how to use them, let's discuss what citation is and why you should care about citing outside items in your own work.

Citation means giving credit to other's ideas, facts, or information that you use in your own work.

One of our most famous quotes about the value of using other's ideas to expand our own work comes from Sir Isaac Newton, mathematician and physicist:
"If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

In short, citation allows us to ethically give credit to the work of researchers who have come before us.

Citation is a standard practice in American academic work, and you likely will be asked to cite your sources in papers or other research assignments in your classes at Green River. Citing your sources also allows your reader to be able to see that you are using credible information. Citing your sources makes clear:

which ideas are outside information
which ideas are unique to you / your paper or assignment
where the outside ideas stop and your ideas begin

Useful Definitions:

A citation is information that shows how to locate the information you used and gives credit to the original source.

A bibliography is a list of citations at the end of your paper.

Plagiarism is using outside ideas, information, or quoted material without giving credit to the original author / creator.

Godfrey Kneller's 1689 portrait of Isaac Newton. Image from Wikimedia Commons. No known restrictions on publication.