Information Literacy Tutorial

Why Cite?

Citing your sources is important for a number of reasons:

• It allows your readers to locate the sources you used in order to verify the information, or to do their own research on that subject.
• It shows how your research builds on the research of others. A citation after a phrase tells your readers which ideas came from someone else, so that it is assumed everything else in your project was your own, original thinking, whether that thinking takes the concept a step further, in a totally new direction, or disputes the concept.
• It is an important part of Academic Integrity. Using another person’s ideas or words without indicating via a citation where you found them is plagiarism. Nassau Community College faculty members have access to Turnitin, which identifies similarities between the text in your papers and Turnitin’s own constantly growing database of student papers, billions of Web pages, and millions of articles from academic books and journals. This helps instructors identify instances of plagiarism.
• Possible consequences of plagiarism include a failing grade for the assignment, a failing grade for the course, and termination from the college.