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Citing a source, and what a citation is for

The writing test asks a small number of research-skills questions: which source is most appropriate, what a citation contains, when a claim needs one, and what counts as a primary source. A citation exists so that a reader can find the thing you used and check what you said about it.

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In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.

What it is for

This is the part of the test that carries straight into a classroom. You will teach children to say where something came from, and the reason you give them is the reason here: a claim nobody can check is not evidence, it is an assertion with a footnote-shaped ornament.

How to think about it

Ask what the reader needs in order to find the source again: who, when, what it is called, where it sits. For source-choice questions, match the source to the claim. A statistic about a national trend wants an official statistical release rather than a newspaper piece about one town.

Worked example

A primary source is the thing itself; a secondary source is somebody writing about it
A diary is primary. A history book quoting the diary is secondary.
Common knowledge needs no citation, and the line is what a reader of this piece would already accept
Which is why the same sentence needs a citation in one piece and not in another.
Paraphrasing still needs a citation: the idea was borrowed even though the words were not
This is the misunderstanding that produces most accidental plagiarism.
A citation that cannot be followed back to the source has failed, whatever style it is in
Style is convention. Findability is the function.

Your turn

Name what a citation exists to let a reader do.

So a reader can  the source and check what you said about it

The trap

Thinking a citation is only for a direct quotation. A borrowed idea, a borrowed structure and a borrowed statistic all need one, and the test asks about paraphrase more often than about quotation.

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