Importance of Citation

There was a great article from Melbourne Uni (Martin & Angelito, 2018) this week about the most cited source on Wikipedia and it got me thinking about how we teach citation and referencing in our schools.

Citation and referencing has an important role not only in academic work but also from the perspective of teaching students about acknowledgement and gratitude.

When we give students handouts or direct them towards information that might aid them in their academic work, we need to acknowledge why that information is important or credible to our subject areas. Have we communicated to them the importance of running their information through a CRAPP test to see if it is worth while? Is there an author present? If not, should we question it's credibility? 

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Including a citation and reference list on our day-to-day teaching resources reinforces that we did not create this information, we curated it and when we ask students to do the same, we have led by example. It takes a village, and we need to acknowledge that village.

"It is hard to expect respect when we don't show it", the same motto can be used with citation and referencing.

When was the last time you included a citation in your work? Did you include a reference list? Or was it all a bit too hard. Were you a bit too time pressed to acknowledge that the photocopied notes are in fact someone else's hard work? Then how can we expect our students to regularly use citation and referencing in their work?

And if you are not sure how to introduce this to your students, have a chat with your friendly Teacher Librarian (that is ... if you are lucky enough to have one in your school).

References:

Martin, D., & Angelito, C. (2018). Who’s citing whom and who’s citing what. Retrieved from https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/who-s-citing-whom-and-who-s-citing-what?