Citations are the details you provide after quoting a book or academic material. The amount of information and the order are determined by the formatting style. These details are mandatory in every academic paper and will be used as a basis for grading.
A paper without citation will be considered an opinion or heresy. It does not meet the basic requirements of academic writing because your sources must be authenticated. Here are reasons why your college essay requires citations and why they must appear in the prescribed order.
Distinguish original ideas from those copied from other authors
Academic writing requires you to develop original ideas. It means reading extensive materials from other writers. Find a cheap dissertation writing service to help with citations, references, and other requirements of academic writing.
They help you to research and generate original ideas that make your paper compelling to read. While you quote the ideas discussed by other writers, you must credit their materials as the sources for the ideas you are discussing. A citation will, therefore, identify the real owner of an idea instead of attributing all of them to you yet you are not the owner.
Help readers to trace your source of information
Statistics, quotes, and inferences form a part of academic borrowing. If you say a percentage of people love football, you must provide a source of your information. Readers can authenticate the information to ensure that it is credible.
Tracing the source of information helps readers to understand your point of view better. It also justifies your position because other people have come to a similar conclusion. In case the reader needs to enquire more or understand the context of a particular conclusion, he will know where to find more information.
Avoid accusations of plagiarism
Picking the ideas of other people and claiming to be the originator is an academic crime. Once you make an inference, quote a statistic, or assert an idea, it should be supported by other scholars. Their ideas must be accredited to their works.
Once a reader comes across a citation, he will know that the idea is borrowed. In the absence of a citation, he will think that the idea is originally yours. You run the risk of being accused of plagiarism.
Facilitate further reading
Researchers want to understand more about the ideas shared in articles and books. However, your paper provides limited information since you cannot capture the ideas of all your references. A researcher will, therefore, use the information provided in the citation to read further about the subject you are discussing in your paper.
Provide a uniform way to trace sources
All citations are done using a particular format. You can identify a book, article, web link, and journal, among other sources. The citation rules help researchers and academicians to identify the reference materials used in writing academic material.
Citations capture crucial details about the reference materials used in academic writing. Readers can trace your sources and authenticate your ideas. Follow the formatting rules provided for citations to provide a uniform description of the materials used in your paper.
