SWITCH Information Literacy Tutorials Home
Citing Information & Avoiding Plagiarism Tutorial
Evaluating Information
Integrating Information from Sources
Citing Information
What is Plagiarism?
Paraphrasing
Direct Quotation
Summarizing
And Then There's Copyright
Copyright Infringement vs. Plagiarism
Glossary of Terms
Properly Using and Citing Information Quiz
SWITCH Information Literacy Tutorials Home

When to Give Credit
CITE THE SOURCE
NO NEED TO CITE
When using or referring to someone else's words or ideas from a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV show, movie, web page, letter, computer program, advertisement, or any other medium
When using something that is "COMMON KNOWLEDGE" - folklore, common sense, or any information generally shared within a field or a cultural group 
When using information gained through interviewing another person
When writing your own experiences, observations, insights, thoughts, or conclusions on a subject
When copying the exact words or a "unique phrase" from somewhere
When compiling facts that are generally accepted for a particular audience
When reprinting any diagrams, illustrations, charts, and/or pictures
When writing up your own experimental results
When using ideas that others have given to you in conversations, interviews, or over email

Find out more about COMMON KNOWLEDGE or generally accepted facts.

Choosing When to Give Credit table. Courtesy of the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL).
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