4.1 Documenting Your Sources: Learning Objectives

{1} Citing and documenting your sources is a critical component of using research in your writing. It gives credit to the experts from whom you have drawn content to inform or persuade your audience. From an ethical and professional standpoint, citing correctly and accurately strengthens your credibility and the validity of your ideas.  As you will see in Chapter 6, Defending Your Ideas, one of the ways you have to influence your audience favorably is through your character.  The accuracy and consistency with which you document your research material, making it easy for others to locate your sources, enhances your professionalism.  Another means of influence, reason, focuses on the reliability, relevance, and adequacy of the data or evidence that you deploy in arguments for your audience.  Again, identifying what material in your communication is sourced from where will assist you in convincing your audience to believe in or take action on the content that you are sharing with them.  The primary goal for this chapter, therefore, is to introduce you to the in-text citation and references list formatting requirements of the IEEE Reference Guide, 2018.