• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Writers' Treasure

Effective writing advice for aspiring writers

  • About
  • Contact
  • Services
    • Editing and proofreading services
    • Critiquing services
    • Create a website services
  • Creative Writing 101
    • Opening Chapters
  • Writing Tips
You are here: Home / Academic Writing / How to cite sources in content writing

By Guest Author

How to cite sources in content writing

This is a guest article by Julia Morison. If you are interested in submitting a guest article of your own, be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

In the quest to making content look legitimate and reliable, we add quotations of experts. In the process, we often end up annoying them. Let me elaborate it further.

When we begin to write an article, we often look for relevant links, quotes, ideas and thoughts of renowned scholars and experts to add. However, what we do wrong is that we do not give them the credit; we simply mention their names at the end of the extracted quote. Such activities discourage many professionals to share their views online.

What you must do is, cite the complete reference along with the link to the site from where you have copied that particular piece of information.

To learn more about proper citation and referencing, check out the different scenarios I have mentioned below:

Citation scenario #1:

If you want to copy the quote, idea or thought of a person, do not go directly copy pasting it on your blog. Instead, mention the name, website link or links to social media sites as well. Try to make the act a mutually benefiting one rather throwing an impression that you were attempting to steal the content.

Moreover, it is against internet etiquettes too. When a person copy-paste a quote without proper referencing his document will be recognized as a plagiarized work, and it will lose credibility. Therefore, you should make your work authentic and trustworthy.

Citation scenario #2:

When you are composing a research-based document and wanted to add data extracted from surveys or polls, figures and facts from reputable sites, you must hyperlink the site as well.

Many writers simply mention the survey and add the information; this weakens the authenticity of their blog. If you truly want to uplift the credibility of your content, always mention the link of the site from where you have extracted the information. It will help your audience to navigate to that site for learning about the subject in detail.

Citation scenario #3:

It is simple to create references for information taken out from general articles or sites.

However, if you read about information on a subject from a website which was not the same as the source of the information, you have to add a link to the site from where you have extracted the information. A simple way to do this is by adding a ‘Via’ link to the website, in addition to a ‘Source’ link to the original source of the information.

Final words

It is imperative to cite sources to make your content trustworthy.

However, there are many formats involved in the citation, which are difficult to grasp and are time-consuming too. Every category has its own formats, whether it is to cite Twitter or articles on websites. You have to follow a distinctive set of rules for the different formats.

However, some professionals suggest writers use IEEE citation generator for creating references and citations. It is said to be one of the most efficient and highly productive tools for making fast citation, and when used properly, it can transform your document into a 100% plagiarism-free one.

Author Bio: Julia Morison is a head hunter and a research specialist at US-Based Writing Firm. She is a traveller, a blogger, a techie and a social activist. When she not in her office, she spends her time writing and educating the masses. Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • Email

Further Reading:

  1. How to Excel at Academic Writing – Five Tips for Success
  2. 7 tips on how to write content that will attract the audience
  3. This is how to write and promote your next eBook
  4. Writers’ Treasure Redesign: Minimalist, Responsive, Better Typography
  5. 10 deadly mistakes most content writers make (+tips on how to avoid them)

Filed Under: Academic Writing, Magnetic Writing, Web Writing

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jennifer Lockman says

    July 12, 2019 at 8:52 PM

    Hi Julia,

    Thank you for such an insightful article on citations. I am going to bookmark this for future references. Till now I have depended on professional writers like these https://essaypro.com/custom-essay-writers.html to help me complete papers without any errors. I have to agree that these were the only ones that have delivered articles exactly as per my requirements.

    But now that I have your article to refer to I think I will give it a try myself.

    Reply
  2. Lucy says

    January 20, 2021 at 3:29 AM

    Hola! I am writing a classification essay, and I am wondering how many sources I have to use. My professor didn’t say a word about this, so I am just wondering. Does the number of references depend on the topic? If so, my topic is “Political Debates” (I got it from here: https://pro-papers.com/blog/classification-essay-topics), and the essay has to be of 4-5 pages. Will 5 sources be enough?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Treasure Trove – the Writers’ Treasure Newsletter

Subscribe for free and get all future articles + exclusive content delivered straight to your email inbox.

Popular articles

  • Common Mistakes Made by Creative Writers
  • How to Master Clarity in Writing
  • Why Hunting for Plots is Worthless
  • Writing Tip: Experiment with Free-writing
  • 1 Year Later: How I Improved My Writing
  • Pen and Paper vs. Computer: Which Do You Use?
  • Web writing 101: how to write effectively for web readers
  • Blog topics

    • Academic Writing
    • Creative Writing Tips
      • Fiction Writing
      • Poetry Writing
    • Editing and Proof Reading
    • Magnetic Writing
    • Reviews
    • Site News
    • Sponsored Articles
    • Technical Writing
    • Web Writing

    Recent articles

    • How to deal with burnout as a freelance writer
    • Six ways the digital age has transformed the freelancing world
    • Three benefits of becoming a full-time freelance writer
    • How to market yourself as a freelance writer
    • How to survive as a writer in the digital age

    About Idrees Patel

    Idrees Patel is a Bachelor of Management Studies graduate, and is located in India. His goal for Writers’ Treasure to make it a resource which provides in-depth and effective writing advice for writers.

    Learn more about him & this blog →

    Sign up for Treasure Trove

    Email updates

    Receive all articles straight to your email inbox.


    Footer

    Sign up for Treasure Trove

    Write for us

    Do you want to write for Writers' Treasure? I accept guest articles for potential publication, but I will only publish the best of the best, the ones that are extremely high quality. You receive a link back to your website and exposure on a growing writing community. Sounds like a deal? Read the guest article guidelines »

    Topics

    • Academic Writing
    • Creative Writing Tips
    • Editing and Proof Reading
    • Fiction Writing
    • Magnetic Writing
    • Poetry Writing
    • Reviews
    • Site News
    • Sponsored Articles
    • Technical Writing
    • Web Writing

    Copyright © 2023 Writers' Treasure - All Rights Reserved.

    • About
    • Contact
    • Services
    • Archives
    • Creative Writing 101
    • Writing Compelling Opening Chapters
    • Writing Tips
    • Free Updates
    • Privacy Policy