Why+cite?

"Citations serve three major roles in scholarly work: In each case, it's important that you acknowledge the ways in which others' ideas contributed to your own. Otherwise, you run the risk of plagiarism."
 * They allow you to show how your argument is built upon the ideas of others.
 * They allow you to indicate which ideas are taken from others, and from whom those ideas were taken; in other words, to give credit where it's due.
 * They allow the interested reader to follow your argument and confirm its logic by investigating the ideas on which the argument is built, or to further explore those ideas on their own.

"Why We Cite: The Purposes of Citation." //UNC University Libraries//. 9 Oct. 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. [].


 * Plagiarism** is when you claim that the work of someone else is your own. This includes using an entire paper or project or using a sentence or other section of the work without quoting it and giving credit to its creator. There are other uses which count as plagiarism as well. Plagiarism is theft and it is a violation of copyright law. For more information about why it is important to cite works, visit [|the UNC Libraries Citing Information Tutorial].