4.7: Citations and credibility

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How do citations relate to credibility? In many ways!

In chapter 1 we learned that citing is important, in part, because it strengthens your credibility. This is because citations make it easy for your reader to verify claims you make within your paper or presentation.

As with anything you write, this is true for any resource you read as well. Whether a resource uses formal citations, informal citations, or no citations at all will greatly impact its credibility and the likelihood that you should use it as a source.

Remember the first bullet point under Reliability in our CRAP list: Is there a works cited or references list? Or links to outside sources? A resource that cites its sources will be more reliable than a resource that doesn’t!

Here’s something to think about: Which would you trust the most: a website with no citations, a blog post with informal citations, or an article with a long list of formal citations?