Including and Citing Sources | Why?
As a university student, a large amount of your time is spent on research: you read academic books and journals; you write research papers, attend lectures and participate in classroom discussions. By doing all of this, you are not only consuming information, but are actively participating in the production and sharing of knowledge. This cycle of consuming, producing, and sharing knowledge in academia is called the scholarly conversation.
Seen in this way, sources can help you develop and deepen your ideas in your research project. Consider, in your research project, that you are having a conversation with the sources—when you move back and forth between your own thinking and what sources have to say, you push your ideas further than you would by going it alone. The result should give you and your audience the sense that you’re joining an ongoing conversation, that you respect other thinkers, and that you’re adding something new to the conversation.
To learn more about the scholarly conversation and its role in academia, watch "Scholarship as Conversation" by McMaster Libraries below.
Scholarship as Conversation (2:37)
In addition to adding your voice to the ongoing scholarly conversation, you might want to include sources in your research to:
Establish Intellectual Context
The best research is not, in that sense, wholly original, but rather develops from previous discoveries. Incorporating other people’s ideas into your writing allows you to stand on their shoulders as you explore your topic. When you cite sources, you become more credible by showing that you've been responsible in arriving at your position.
Give Credit Where Credit is Due
Most of us are familiar with this reason for citing sources: just as you want credit for your scholarship, other scholars deserve credit for their work. By acknowledging the valuable work of other scholars, you establish a cooperative ethical framework of the exchange and discourse of ideas.
Lead Scholars to Future Research
As we've established, scholarship is ongoing and collaborative. Rather than try to create ideas from scratch, we build on and extend others ideas to create our own work. So, one scholar's sources can be an invaluable contribution to another scholar's research. In this way, acknowledging and citing your sources shows your audience where they might look to test, explore, and build upon your scholarship.