6 Why use sources?

All information comes from somewhere. In academia we acknowledge the source of our information for a number of reasons, including to:

• Acknowledge the contributions others have had on our learning
• Avoid plagiarism (breaking law/protocol)
• Provide deeper learning opportunities for readers
• Allow others to check our work
• Connect or situate our work within a discipline of study
• Add credibility to our thoughts (assuming our sources are credible – more about that later)