Skip to main content

The Importance of Citing Sources

 In "Plagiarism is not a Big Moral Deal", Stanley Fish asserts that the rules for citing sources are old fashioned and burdensome for students, especially if they will not be going into a career where they will be using them. He feels that professionals, such as scientists, journalists, philosophers, and historians need to know how to cite sources, but not necessarily other jobs, including more creative types as well as politicians (Fish). 


While Fish is accurate that the rules about citing sources and avoiding plagiarism can be overwhelming to learn at first, it can be learned and it gets easier with practice. Citing sources correctly is one of the most important aspects of writing an academic paper. It is the only way that information can be validated for one thing. When you think about all the time, effort, and sometimes money that went into preparing a source, citing that source properly is not only necessary to give the credit, it is the right thing to do. If someone didn't come up with the idea, and doesn't give credit to the person or people who did, they are essentially stealing from them and lying to their audience. Another reason for citing sources is to give the audience a reason to trust the author. Should they be interested, the reader can check the source to make sure the facts are correct or look up additional information if they are intrigued by the subject matter. 


While citing information and avoiding plagiarism may seem like it is limited to only academia and certain professions, it is essential for all citizens to know. In the digital age we live in, most professions and even individuals have a platform where they are able to "speak" to the masses. Many people will blindly believe whatever they read. It is easy to get information from a source and possibly twist it or change it to say something different, or just make something up. The general public should be more aware that sources should be cited, even if they don't do any writing themselves. Audiences need to know that what they are reading is reliable and have the opportunity to check the facts from the original source. This would help to eliminate fake viral news from spreading and help citizens be more aware and educated. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wallowing in Complexity

Wallowing in complexity is a concept of giving a lot of deep thought to a complex question.  It involves coming up with a question first of all.  Also, the problem must be thought of from many different angles and different ways to address the problem than may initially come to mind.  Wallowing in complexity means that you can look at and analyze your questions from at least 2 different perspectives:  yours and the opposition, but possibly even more perspectives.  This concept involves understanding the history, context and important facts about your question.  Wallowing in complexity means opening your mind to many possible outcomes.  You may need to do research or conduct studies to attain more information about your complex question.  By doing these kinds of high level thinking and delving deeper, you could change your own mind or the question itself may be changed.  Wallowing in complexity is a great tool to basically have an internal di...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Discord

“The Discord” shows the battle between males and females for control and rights. They are shown fighting over a literal “pair of pants” in a tug of war between males and females. The males in “The Discord” are on the left, not fully dressed, neither of the two men are wearing pants and one even seems to be wearing a slip or skirt. The females on the right are fully dressed in dresses, and one of the women appears to be wearing a pair of pants under her dress. This painting is showing the power struggle between men and women in family and society in general. The painting shows how both sides feel about the issue.  The women want what they feel is basic rights. The men appear to think the women are asking for too much, since they are already fully dressed and they still want the pants. The man in the middle of the cartoon says he would “Rather die! than let my wife have my pants” and that a man should always be the “ruler.” (Heppenheimer). The woman in the middle says “Woman is born...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scott William Cox

In November of 1990 and February of 1991, two prostitutes were murdered in the Portland area.   These two murders were solved due to the realization of a possible serial killer in an unrelated assault and different law enforcement agencies working together.   In May of 1991, another prostitute in Seattle was severely sexually and physically assaulted and thrown from the cab of an 18 wheeler truck.   The victim had to be hospitalized as a result of the attack.   Even though the victim did not want to prosecute the case, the detective in charge realized that this attack showed signs of a current or future serial killer.   Police were able to track down a man by the name Seth Scott Cutter through the employer, the trucking company.   Police felt that Cutter could be the person responsible and information about Cutter was disseminated to neighboring agencies.   An officer from a different police department recognized the suspect as a local man named Scot...
Post a Comment
Read more