Monday, August 15, 2011

The Missing Link! Best Practice: Cite Early and Cite Often

The Missing Link! 

Best Practice: Cite Early and Cite Often

Mish Shedlock calls out the LA Times and Bloomberg for being a bit lazy on their citation.


Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: "Made-in-China" Only 2.7% of U.S. Spending; Really? What Does It Mean? Inflationists Take Note


"No Excuse for Missing Link
"Given that the article is readily available, there is no excuse for the LA Times' failure to link to it. 


"Generally, in cases like this, I ignore the superfluous article and instead go straight to the source. However, I have had enough of link suppression and am calling the LA Times on it. Bloomberg authors take note. I nearly wrote the same about you a few days ago but was too busy. Fellow bloggers, watch what you are doing. I despise snips like 'Reuters Says' with no link. Worse yet are instances where I cannot even find the quote when I search for it."


Why cite sources?
UC Berkeley Library: 

"Whenever you quote or base your ideas on another person's work, you must document the source you used. Even when you do not quote directly from another work, if reading that source contributed to the ideas presented in your paper, you must give the authors proper credit.


Citations allow readers to locate and further explore the sources you consulted, show the depth and scope of your research, and give credit to authors for their ideas. Citations provide evidence for your arguments and add credibility to your work by demonstrating that you have sought out and considered a variety of resources. In written academic work, citing sources is standard practice and shows that you are responding to this person, agreeing with that person, and adding something of your own. Think of documenting your sources as providing a trail for your reader to follow to see the research you performed and discover what led you to your original contribution."

Bottom Line: 

The web is about linking resources to users. Providing links to the reader allows for further exploration of an idea, allows for comparison of other opinions, and allows the writer to provide supporting evidence for their position. Providing proper citation allows content CREATORS to be recognized for their thoughts -- and not some news aggregation bot or private label opportunist. 


~Tot1

1 comment:

  1. Totally agree!!! If big news agencies don't do it, expecting small time bloggers to do it is a bit too much. But if you don't want your credibility to get hurt, you should cite your source for sure.

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