Documenting your sources provides essential information for your reader. By citing sources, you show your indebtedness to the work of others, and you give your reader the chance to seek further information from the sources themselves. Citing sources also supports your own credibility as a writer and researcher.
acknowledge your dependence on another person's ideas or words, and to distinguish clearly your own work from that of your sources. receive credit for the research you have done on a project, whether or not you directly quote or borrow from your sources. establish the credibility and authority of your knowledge
