Why Citation is an Integral Component of Formal Academic Writing?

Writing provides a path that helps you in conveying your message, and in communicating with a large audience. In the domain of academic writing, you’re supposed to work on different aspects. These are given as follows;

  • Introduction
  • Literature
  • Methodology
  • Analysis
  • Results
  • Conclusion

In the introduction and methodology sections, you make claims for many aspects. Same as literature is all about past studies. Whenever you use information of some other scholar/researcher, you have to mention who that work belongs to. And when make a claim for something, you have to provide evidence for it as well. This all is done through the application of proper citation. The importance of citation has made it an integral part of formal academic writing. The use of citation is also necessary for books, articles, and journals. This is because it highlights the writer’s credibility within these contexts.

Furthermore, this domain includes different documents, and movies as well. The type of content and information also decide whether it should be cited, or not. For example, there is no need to cite a natural fact. But other than natural facts and personal opinions, you have to cite every piece of information. Otherwise, it will come under unethical consideration. This can be data in the form of text, image, chart, and even a graph. In the case of results and conclusions, you don’t need to ensure citations. This is because you have analysed the data, and proposed a conclusion based on the results of your writing/research.

Now let’s discuss in detail why citation is taken as the most important part of academic writing.

Inspection Tool

Writing demands accuracy. Be it formal or informal, writing needs to be precise. It should be understood that faulty information always leads to misguidance. And misguiding the audience is a very bad practise. Citation within this context, helps in examining the whole content along with its accuracy. This way, it becomes easy to come up with an effective piece of writing. Also, you can see if your claim is correct, or not. To ensure this, all the added quotations can be cross-checked anytime. Although you have paraphrased the information taken from outer sources, it does not mean that they’ve become your own idea. There is difference in the style of communication only. Here un-plagiarised text also needs to be cited properly. Because citation helps in identifying the original piece of information.  

Provide Assistance in Research

While citing any kind of information, you have to add every little detail of that content. This includes the following aspects;

  • Page number
  • Name of author
  • Name of publisher
  • Publication year

Here you’re supposed to be careful about everything. You must write the right spelling of the author, and the publisher’s name as well. Similarly, even a little mistake in page number and publication year can be taken as faulty information. The reader can take it as the addition of incorrect evidence. Whereas in reality, it’s just a little writing mistake. In short, you have to be very conscious while working on the citation. This habit of detailed examination helps in the development of good research qualities. This way you get to know how in what way you can utilise someone’s information as well. You also get to know how you can ensure ethical aspects while working within the academic writing domain. This is how citation helps you in effective writing, as well as personal development.

Develop Good Writing Skills

A good writer is supposed to argue on the ground basis. No matter what the topic of communication is, he addresses the main issues, and goes deep into each aspect of that issue. He convinces others in a righteous way without getting biased. It is important to know that unbiased content has pros, as well as cons of each aspect regarding the academic writing topic. But you can only convince someone with the right evidence. In this context, every piece of evidence works as support system for your writing.

For example, you have provided evidence within your writing, but you failed to it. Now how will you know if there is any authentic evidence, or was it your personal opinion? To collect evidence, you need to read different journals, books, or relevant sources. This way, you get to know about different writing styles as well. Also, it’s a good way of improving your vocabulary, and expanding the horizon of your knowledge.  

Every research student has to read multiple sources for collecting relevant information. You might’ve read more than ten journals to collect evidence for a single claim. Although you found support from just one journal, it does not mean that you wasted time on rest of the pieces. In reality, those extra pieces of information helped you in gaining more information about different aspects that can be utilised in the near future. With cited content, readers do not raise question on it is quality, and precision. That is how you become a good writer by working on the inclusion of effective citation within your work. However, in case of any issue, you can hire dissertation writing services UK.

Bibliography Generation

In academic writing, bibliography shows every source that you’ve cited within your work. Suppose you think it’s only content that matters, and not the bibliography. Then let me tell you that you’re thinking wrong. I still remember when I presented my dissertation to my advisor. He appreciated me for the inclusion of a bibliography. Yet it did not mean that he didn’t like my content. Obviously, he liked it. But in this case, bibliography was more engaging, and important to him. So you should know that the section of bibliography is not for your audience only. This is because it provides assistance to the writer as well. Through the inclusion of this section, you can have a quick review of all cited content within your task. You can also check if you skipped some parts that need to be cited, or not.

Credibility of the Writer

Incomplete, improper, and missing citations, all leave a very bad impression on the researcher. You may have put so much effort into the aspect of research. And there’s no doubt that everything is exactly as per the requirement. But mistakes within the area of citation can ruin your valuable efforts. This is because it makes you a professional, and credible writer in the community of researchers. Whereas mistakes of citation send a message of the writer’s immaturity, non-professionalism, and laziness on the reader. The credibility of a writer is judged through good citation. And if you add a fake citation, it comes under the disobedience of writing laws. For going against rules and regulations, you can be charged as well, so beware.

Final Thoughts

Proper citation in academic writing saves you from criticism. It also provides assistance in terms of tracking the information. Including proper citation will make it less stressful for you to think about the successful submission of your final draft. All the above-discussed aspects have made citation an integral part of academic writing. So remember these if you ever feel like skipping on the aspect of citation.