Why are Citations So Important?

Citations are important for three reasons:

• They provide credit for the originator of the intellectual property.
• They build a writer's credibility, accountability, and accuracy.
• They help you and the reader find sources that expand on the information related to what you cite.

Legally, we are required to give credit, but we as communicators and writers benefit from citations as well.

Credit the Source

When we cite our sources, we give credit to the creator for intellectual property (IP). IP is valuable and important in today's Internet-centered environment. IP includes ideas as well as material results of thought, such as music, art, writing, code, designs, logos, and other products of the creator's thought. Numerous lawsuits center around IP and involve copyright, trademark, and patent infringement. (For a recent list, see RFCExpress, 2012.)

You can protect yourself (and Vaughan-Nichols, 2011, has some ideas on how to protect yourself and your company) but you also must ensure that you don't infringe another creator's rights. Therefore, you must give credit when you use someone else's idea or words. You may NOT use IP in full (a full photo, piece of music, etc.) without written consent of the creator or unless the IP is in the public domain or your use is allowed by creative commons licensing (which I will address in a future post).

Build Your Credibility

Citing your sources is also valuable to build your credibility. If you provide a fact without providing sources, your audience may question you; however, if you provide sources for the information that you present, your audience realizes that you know what you are saying.

For example, on January 8, 2011, a man shot Senator Gabriella Giffords in the head (as reported in a story in the Huffington Post/AP, 2011), and the first reports we heard through the news and online were mixed: Did she die or didn't she? (Tenore, 2011, wrote a commentary on this topic.) Frequently, writers and reporters—sources of information—want to be the first to tell a story or share information, and if they do not carefully check and cite their sources, they damage their credibility. Citing your sources also makes you accountable for the information you share and ensures that if you share someone else's information, you are accurate.

Record Sources of Information

Finally, citations will help you and your reader go to sources of information so they can find your source and learn more about the topic about which you communicate. Many people use Wikipedia in this way: they go to a Wikipedia article to begin research and follow citations in the article to find more information. (This is an appropriate use for Wikipedia.)

References

Huffington Post/AP. (2011, January 8). Gabrielle Giffords shot: Congresswoman shot in Arizona. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html

RFC Express. (2012). Your primary source for intellectual property lawsuits. Retrieved from http://www.rfcexpress.com

Tenore, M. J. (2011, January 10). Conflicting reports of Giffords' death were understandable, but not excusable. Retrieved from http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/113876/conflicting-reports-of-giffords-death-were-understandable-but-not-excusable

Vaughan-Nichols, S. (2011, December 28). The CIO's nightmare: Intellectual property lawsuits. Retrieved from http://h30565.www3.hp.com/t5/Feature-Articles/The-CIO-s-Nightmare-Intellectual-Property-Lawsuits/ba-p/1168