As students, you are often asked by your professors to use citations in all your assignments. Some of you might be clueless about citations and their purpose. We are here to tell you what citations mean and why to use them in all your written assignments.
A “citation” is a means to tell your readers that certain material in your work came from another source. It also gives readers the information necessary to find that particular source again. When writing your assignments, it is important to give credit to the sources that you obtained your information from for many reasons, but the main reasons are to make your research reliable, to show that you know what you are talking about, to give credit where credit is due, and to become a resource for others.
As a student, millions of ideas, insights and arguments published by other writers, many of whom have spent years researching and writing, must appeal to you during drafting your assignments. All you need to do is acknowledge their contribution to your assignment. Citation provides you with many benefits as a student:
- By citing experts in your field, you are showing your professor that you are aware of the field in which you are studying.
- Citation serves as a fact-checking tool for your research.
- Citation makes you a good researcher. You learn to pay attention to detail and the ability to discern patterns and make connections.
- You can boast of your knowledge with a good bibliography. A bibliography is simply the compilation of the various sources that you have read and cited in your own assignment or dissertation. Thus, an extensive bibliography is naturally a stamp of an extensively read and well-informed student.
- When you cite a source, you show how your voice enters into an intellectual conversation, and you demonstrate your link to the community within which you work.
Learning to use citation effectively is a must for any student wishing to attain top grades. References should always be accurate, allowing your readers to find the sources of information you have used. The best way to make sure you reference accurately is to keep a record of all the sources you used when reading and researching for an assignment help. You must cite published work and websites like Wikipedia cannot be cited. You must ensure that you do not fill your assignment with other people’s voices, crowding out your own. Citation should function to amplify, reinforce or underline, not replace, your own research. There are different styles of citation – APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, MLA (Modern Language Association). You must stick to the guidelines issued by your college or university for different assignments. When in doubt, remember that the goal of your citations is to help a reader who wishes to read the source material also. Give enough information to make such retrieval easy. We can help you with writing your assignments complete with citation and clear referencing.