19 Why we cite

Although in some cultures it is a sign of respect to use the words or ideas of others without giving credit to that person, this is not acceptable in American higher education.

With AI tools, citation serves additional important purposes:

• Transparency: Allowing readers to understand how AI contributed to your work
• Reproducibility: Enabling others to understand your process and potentially recreate similar results
• Accountability: Taking responsibility for content that may have been AI-assisted
• Learning verification: Demonstrating your own understanding versus AI contribution

Academics engage in conversations to advance their knowledge and understanding of a subject. This happens mostly in written form through the publication of scholarly materials. In these academic conversations, it is necessary and expected that all prior thought is acknowledged and that all contributors to the conversation are credited. As a student, you too are a contributor to these conversations, and you therefore must credit all the sources from which you drew information.

Crediting your sources is done through a process called citation. A citation is a reference to a source of information. It gives specific key information about the source, so the reader can find it.