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Reason Two: Why Citing is Important

Second, keeping track of sources is important because a scholar who uses someone else's idea without giving credit violates that person's ownership of the idea. To understand this violation, envision the following scenario: You and your friend are discussing some ideas from class during lunch one day, and you make what you consider to be a particularly insightful observation. During class discussion that afternoon, your friend brings up your observation but neglects to point out that it is yours, not his. The professor beams and compliments your friend on his clear and insightful thinking.

In this scenario, you likely feel that there's something unfair about your friend claiming your idea as his or her own. After all, you had been thinking about the idea, perhaps had devoted time to developing it, and you are not getting credit for it. Worse, someone else is. That sense of violation you feel, the sense that something valuable has been stolen from you, suggests why failure to cite sources hurts another person.

Neal Bowers, a poet associated with Iowa State University, in his book Words for the Taking: A Hunt for a Plagiarist, describes vividly the effects of having one's words stolen. He discovered that another person had been publishing in poetry journals Bowers' poems under his name, often changing only the first line of each (the line under which poems in journals are often categorized). Stephanie Zacharek 's review of Bowers' book describes the anger and violation that Bowers felt. (http://www.salon.com/sneaks/sneakpeeks961227.html)

Reason One
Reason Three
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