The Importance of Citing Sources in Academic Writing

This report discusses the importance of citing sources in academic writing and the APA rules for citation. It includes a summary of responses from students and professors on the topic, highlighting the need for citation regardless of how common a term or phrase may be. The report concludes that citing sources is necessary to avoid plagiarism and give credit to the original writer.

Short Report
Name
Professor
Course
Date

Introduction
The writer refers to the “Urban alienation” a phrase. From the Kelly book that writer
read, he thought it was the right way to call it a phrase. The writer did not cite the source
following the fact that it is a common term used by people. In my opinion, the writer was not
right by not citing the source. It does not matter how many times the source is used by other
people but if one refers the source, it is important to cite it. The writer was supposed to at least
cite the source since it was one of the terms he read from the book (Kelly, 1991). According to
the APA citation practices, any part of the writing from outside the sources should be cited. The
writer was supposed to cite the source so as to correspond to the APA citation rules of citation.
The writer's work was research since he was collecting information from the book when he came
across the term “Urban alienation”. Therefore, there was a need for the writer to cite the source
regardless of how common is it used by other people.
Writer’s comment:
“Urban alienation” was a phrase I took from a book that I read. I thought that was a neat
way of calling it. I did not refer to the source because it’s a common term that people use.
The first question that I came across as I took an account of “Urban alienation” term was
how people referred to the source. I was wondering one of the students suggested that such a
source “Urban alienation” was not fit for citation. I had to get reviews from fours students. In
my survey, I summoned one Master’s student in Library & Information Studies, one Ph.D.
student in Education, and two professors in Education who were faculty members. The following
are the questions:
1a. is there any need for citing Kelly’s book based on its cross multiple texts?

1b. is it right to use the reference regardless of how the phrases are common to everyone?
2c. what style do you think we can write the phrases in the book?
The students answered each question in a short written paragraph. In my case, I will
summarize in the section below, followed by a discussion of the recurring themes and possible
conclusions.
Summary of responses
Student A (Master’s student in Library & Information Studies) suggested that they only
need to have it typed twice in the computer so as to get the footnotes or even get cite out of it.
The student suggests citation of the source. He says that the worst alternative is that there is a
possibility of getting it plagiarized. So, there is a need for taking 5 seconds to put in the source.
Student B who is A Ph.D. student in Education suggested he has seen cross multiple texts
than just being cited. He suggests that citing the source is like trying to copy. He suggests that
there is no need to put the citation because it is just like a newspaper or magazine.
Professor c (A professor in Education) encourages students to cite the term because he
thinks it is a good term to be used although it is not common. The professor really uses the term
and therefore he sees the need for the same to be used and cited by the students.
Professor D (A professor in Education) agrees with the writer that is an everyday part of English
language, therefore, there is need to put the two phrases together so as to probably calculate and
compute their meaning. It is import to have the terms read in the newspapers since it is not
puzzling to him.
Student A and B are not right simply because they assume that the terms are commonly
used by many people and therefore citing it will be like plagiarism. This is not the case since
based on APA citation rules, any term from the booklet says in Kelly book should be cited

regardless of how much it is used by the people because if it was a research writing since every
writer will have a different thought.
Discussion
Following the suggestions from the students and professors in the case above, there are
some issues I noted about the student A and B. They have a mentality that since the term is used
by many of the people, it should not be cited. I think this should not be the case. Referring to the
APA citation rules, it does not matter how common the term is commonly used but it should be
always cited for the purpose of recognizing the original writer of the same (American
Psychological Association, 2010). In fact, based on my point of view if the writer does not cite
the source in the writing, this is now what can be termed as plagiarism. It is a way important to
refer or cite the source under which the term or certain phrase comes from. There is no need of
generalizing things in writing as seen from student A and B. Therefore for the standards of
writing, there is a need for citation of the sources in the text.
Conclusion
Sometimes I think everyone’s suggestion and opinions are correct not unless proven
wrong. In my case here, I will prove that student A and B are not right. Just following what the
two professors say about the citation of the source, it is very true that there is a need for the
reference citation of the source. Concentrating on the APA rules of citation, even in magazines
and newspapers, there are cases of citing the source of the information so as to keep the reader’s
alert of whose information they are reading. I think both Student A and B are not thinking
beyond the wall that no matter the number of times terms are used by other people when reading
the writer’s work, the readers will only be focusing on the work of that writer. Therefore if the
terms will not be cited, it will actually sound like a plagiarism and copying the work of another

writer without his/her knowledge. Therefore in my conclusion, the ideas of the professors are
supported by the APA rules of citation and should be followed.

References
Kelly, M. K. (1991). Alienation, aggression, and sensation seeking as predictors of love use of
violent film, computer, and website content. New York times.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Concise rules of APA style. American
Psychological Association.