Writers' Treasure Academic Writing,Magnetic Writing,Web Writing How to cite sources in content writing

How to cite sources in content writing

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017| Guest AuthorGuest Author| 9:22 PM
Categories:

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.

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)

2 thoughts on “How to cite sources in content writing”

  1. 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. 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

Your email address will not be published.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

Related Post

7 tips on how to write content that will attract the audience7 tips on how to write content that will attract the audience

This is a guest article by Bria Pierce. If you want to submit a guest article of your own, be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

Content is important for SEO and it is the single best way to attract the attention of customers and keep them engaged. But how are you supposed to create fresh and interesting content when there is so much work to do?

In the constantly changing world, creating quality content is not as easy as you may think. But as challenging as writing content is, it is possible to develop some interesting blog posts, social media posts, videos, and infographics that interest your target audience and drive more traffic.

In fact, you don’t have to be a renowned expert in your field to create good content.

While word count remains a secondary part when creating valuable content, there are a few tricks that will help you create killer content that will rock your audience.

(more…)

Further Reading:

  1. Be Aware of the Reading Level of Your Audience
  2. 10 deadly mistakes most content writers make (+tips on how to avoid them)
  3. How to write great scenes: tips and tools
  4. Why Clarity Matters (In A Way You Don't Know About)
  5. POV: What it is and how it matters
Read MoreRead More

Demolish your writer’s blockDemolish your writer’s block

This is a guest article by Edwin Henry. If you want to submit a guest article of your own be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

A lot of people want a magic bullet to either motivate them to start writing for the first time, or a method to get around a mental block. Writers’ Treasure has talked about this before, with Idrees relating his solutions for shaking off stagnation and mixing things up.

There is a romantic idea that inspiration is something that strikes you, and after that light goes off, you’ll dive into your magnum opus and come out the other side with a complete work. The reality is, writing takes work, and if you’re blocked, it feels like that work is impossible to follow through with.

That paralysis can really jam up your creative track and make you struggle to get even a couple of words out onto a page. Especially if you have an inkling of what you want to talk about, but feel kind of stuck on how to achieve it.

Here are the things that have and continue to help me. Some of them are based on when I first started writing, when blocks are powerful things because self-doubt is hard to counter because you may be lacking evidence to dissolve it.

(more…)

Further Reading:

  1. Why You Should Write Like You Talk (And How I Defeated Writers’ Block)
  2. Six causes of a beginner writer’s expressive problem (and what to do about each)
  3. Getting Bogged Down in Editing – Help!
  4. Writing Tip: Experiment with Free-writing
  5. Top Ten Tips to Fight and Defeat Writers’ Block
Read MoreRead More

What is good writing?What is good writing?

Good writing. More precisely, a piece of writing or multiple pieces of writing which have been labelled with the quality of goodness. Everyone strives to have their writing become, through hard work, good writing. Good writing is a great thing, a thing to strive for.

But what is it, really?

Why is that we don’t have a single complete definition of what exactly good writing means?

Is it because good writing is subjective? After all, for one person, a piece of writing may be good. But that same piece of writing could be pathetic for a different reader. There lies the problem. Any definition of good writing won’t hold water for a second if it’s based on the writer’s own opinion. One could say, “good writing is writing which contains so-and-so”, and then a reader with different likes / dislikes will say: “What? Those qualities worsen a piece of writing instead of the other way around…”

How can anyone define good writing when people are not really thinking of good writing as such but good writing for them (a substantial difference) and when people are thinking of effective writing and not good writing?

Takeaway: let’s forget “good writing” for a moment. Consider a different concept, effective writing. Why? Because that can be measured. And the measurement leads to comparison in terms of degrees. The most effective writing turns out to be irresistible writing. Irresistible writing, in the proper context, leads to magnetic, award-winning, profit-making and productive writing.

With that in mind, let’s move on to the qualities of good writing — ahem, I mean effective writing…

(more…)

Further Reading:

  1. How to Master Clarity in Writing
  2. Be Aware of the Reading Level of Your Audience
  3. Writing Tip: Use Vivid Description
  4. Tips and tricks to write effectively for web readers – Web Writing 101
  5. Writing Tip: Finding the Balance of Narrative and Dialogue
Read MoreRead More