When to Cite Sources

What’s the Purpose of Citations, Endnotes, and Footnotes?

Many of the papers that you write for college courses require you to do some independent reading, whether that means doing a search of all the articles and books available on a given subject or simply reading a novel. And usually, you end up using some facts, ideas, or quotations from your reading when you write your paper. Most students are careful about citing sources when they use quotations, but proper documentation involves more than that. If you use any information from your research—and that means facts and ideas as well as quotations—you must cite or note the sources in which you found the material.

Careful documentation can be time-consuming and dull work, but there’s no getting around the fact that this work is essential to good scholarship. Endnotes and other forms of citation serve the purpose of drawing a clear a line between your work and that of other scholars. As any of you know who have found interesting ideas or sources in the notes or bibliography of an article, they can be valuable in pointing out new directions for readers to take in their own research. Obviously, they are also important because they allow readers, including your professors, to verify your work.

You need to document your sources scrupulously, not only for the sake of intellectual honesty, but because the consequences for failing to do so can be significant. Many professors mark down severely for improper or sloppy citation. And incomplete documentation is a violation of the honor code. If you don’t cite all your sources, you open yourself up to accusations of plagiarism, meaning that you appear to be passing off somebody else’s work as your own. For more advice on avoiding plagiarism, see the Writing Center handout on “Plagiarism.” Also take a look at the Princeton University publication Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities. (If you’ve misplaced your copy, you can get another at the Office of the Dean of Student Life, which is in New South.)

When Should You Cite a Source?

There are a few basic rules of thumb you can use to judge whether you need to cite a source. If you quote an author, even if you are only borrowing a single key word, you need to tell your reader the origin of the quotation. You also need to cite a source if you restate an idea, thesis, or opinion stated by an author. Suppose, for instance, I am writing a philosophy essay on morality and gender and I mention Carol Gilligan’s theory that girls and boys learn to make different choices in situations of moral conflict. If I use the phrase “ethic of care” (Gilligan 30) to name Gilligan’s theory about women’s morality, I should clearly indicate where I found that term; but even if I don’t use any of Gilligan’s language and simply restate one of her ideas, I must tell the reader where I found that idea (Gilligan 16-23).

Restating an expert’s theory or opinion is one form of what is called paraphrasing. Sometimes paraphrasing is much more extensive than simply putting an important concept into your own words; there are times, for example, when you may find it necessary to summarize information from another text to use as support for your own argument. If you are writing about conflicting theories concerning the cause of the Great Depression, for instance, you might find it necessary to restate concisely the opinions of several historians before you go on to make your own argument. Any information that you summarize must be carefully cited so that a reader can go and check the information in its original source. As you summarize, you should also be sure that you are putting the ideas into your own words. If you borrow a key word or phrase here and there, those should be put in quotation marks.

You also need to document a source if you use facts that are not common knowledge. If you are writing a paper about the writer Edith Wharton, you may want to include information about her life and the publication of her works. Now every biography of Wharton will give basic dates of importance in her life, and you don’t need to cite sources for this sort of information. But every biographer also presents new facts and interpretations, and if you use information from Cynthia Griffin Wolff’s Feast of Words about Wharton’s relationship with her mother, then you need to tell your reader where you found that information.

Explanatory Endnotes or Footnotes

You have probably noticed in your reading that scholars occasionally provide explanatory or informational notes that describe or list other texts the reader can turn to find additional information on a given subject. You might consider using such a note if you’ve discovered interesting material related to your topic that you don’t have room to discuss in your paper. In general, however, they are not required in student papers, and peppering your essay with informational notes can distract you from your main argument. Check the style manual appropriate to your course of study for rules governing explanatory endnotes or footnotes.

Using Correct Citation Form

The specific form that you use when you document a source—that is, whether you cite within text or in an endnote or footnote, and exactly what information is required—will vary, depending on which academic field you are working in and your professor’s or preceptor’s preference. It can be frustrating to have to become familiar with a whole new set of requirements for many of the papers you write, but scholars in different fields work differently, and they come up with citation styles that function best for them. Ultimately, it’s your responsibility to ask your professor what the required documentation form is for the course you are taking, to find the manual that outlines the proper form, and to use it correctly in your paper. The Writing Center’s handout on “Documenting Sources” will give you some additional information, but there’s absolutely no substitute for using the right manual.

Related Writing Center Handouts

© 1999 Princeton Writing Program

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Work Cited

Gilligan, Carol. In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge:    U of Massachusetts P, 1982.