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Like a lot of things you do in college, citing sources asks you to take something you might already know about or do in your everyday life, and take it to a new level, or do it in a specific way.
Learn the importance of citing sources in MLA 9th edition to avoid plagiarism, support your ideas, and guide your audience.
Key Takeaways
- Citing sources formally builds on everyday informal practices of asking for information origins.
- Citations provide transparency and allow readers to verify and follow up on information.
- Proper citation strengthens your credibility and supports your arguments.
- Failing to cite sources leads to plagiarism, which is a major academic violation.
- MLA 9th edition citation guidelines help ensure accurate and ethical documentation of sources.
What the video covers
- Citing sources is an extension of informal everyday practices taken to a formal academic level.
- We often ask for sources in daily life to verify surprising or interesting information.
- Citations help identify authors or creators of quotes, images, or information.
- Citations allow easier verification of information when something seems questionable.
- Three main reasons to cite: to inform your audience of your sources, to support your arguments with expert backing, and to avoid plagiarism.
- Citing sources is a courtesy to readers who may want to explore the original material further.
- Using credible sources and citing them correctly builds your own credibility and makes your arguments stronger.
- Plagiarism is a serious academic offense involving taking credit for others' words or ideas.
- Proper citation ensures your work is not mistakenly considered plagiarized.
- Additional MLA citation resources are available on the Kirkwood Library website.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to citing sources
- 00:11Everyday informal citing examples
- 00:36Asking for sources in daily life
- 00:56Importance of citations for quotes and images
- 01:17Verifying questionable information with citations
- 01:56Three main reasons to cite sources
- 02:36Reason 1: Informing your audience
- 03:37Reason 2: Supporting your arguments
- 03:58Reason 3: Avoiding plagiarism
- 05:04Conclusion and further MLA resources
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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Citing sources is a great example, because we regularly cite sources informally in everyday life.
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When a friend tells you something unbelievable, like, “Well, you know our bodies are more bacteria than human,” you might ask them: “Where did you hear that?” By asking them where they got their information, you are asking your friend to cite their source.
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Or how many times has this happened to you: you see a great quote or image online, and want to find out more.
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You want to know the author or artist’s name, or just want to find out more about the source.
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If it’s not cited, you will have to spend time trying to get more information to identify the source yourself.
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In this case, a citation would have been very helpful to you. Here’s a third example: we often see something that just doesn’t seem right, and when that happens we want to check the original source for ourselves as part of our process of evaluation.
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Again, a citation would help you verify the information more easily. Based on these examples, we can easily come up with the three basic reasons why we cite sources: #1: Citing allows you as the author to clearly let your audience know where you
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gathered the information you used in creating your writing, speech, website, or any other communication.
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The flip side of this is a courtesy to your readers, who may want that information to follow up on something interesting or surprising that you included from another work.
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#2: It helps support your own ideas and arguments to show the work of experts is standing behind you.
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Using credible sources and citing them correctly makes your ideas even more compelling and convincing, and builds credibility for yourself.
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#3: If you don’t document where you got your information, your work will be considered plagiarism, a major academic offense.
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Plagiarism is taking credit for words or ideas that aren’t yours. Without accurate citations, your audience will assume that all the words, phrases, and ideas in your paper are entirely your original thoughts.
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Proper citation practices make sure that you are not guilty of plagiarism. For more resources on citing in MLA style, see the Kirkwood Library website.
Topics:MLA 9th editionciting sourcesacademic citationplagiarism preventionsource verificationKirkwood Librariescitation importanceacademic integrityresearch skillswriting tips
