You made it through your search. Congratulations! Now you have to write your paper. You're just not sure if you need to cite this one source...
The tips below will help you to determine if something is common knowledge, and doesn't need to be cited. In general, just remember that it's always safer to OVER cite than UNDER cite.
In most cases, when a fact is general knowledge, it can be stated without providing a citation. This is a skill that needs to be developed. In the context of a specific publication, what is common knowledge in one field may not be common knowledge in another. Over time, you will become better at identifying common knowledge.
You can begin by asking yourself the following questions:
If you feel like the point you are making is likely to be disputed by a number of your readers, you should provide some sort of source to support your claim.
If you have questions about whether you should cite a fact, it is better to cite it.
You can also ask your teacher for help determining whether a fact is common knowledge.
This content is derivative of the UNC University Libraries "Identifying Plagiarism: Common Knowledge" research guide under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
