Citing your sources is important for several reasons:

• To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information

• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas

• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors

• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of works cited, footnotes, a bibliography or reference list