hey, can anyone help?

Question

Hey, what does it mean when in a piece of text, there is the two words "citation needed" in brackets next to a word???

Answer 1

A citation is showing the source of the information, or where the author obtained the information. If it says citation needed, it means you need to cite where you found that bit of information.

Say, for example, you wrote in a paper that the number of elephants in southern Africa has tripled in the past three years. Unless you're Stephen Colbert and made that up, you would need to cite in your paper where you got your information (i.e. National Geographic).

You should cite pretty much anything that isn't your own orginal idea. If you fail to cite something or cite it improperly, it is considered plagerism, so be very careful about this!

Answer 2

The first post is correct about citation. As an author, you need to explain where you may have received specific information (i.e., cite your sources). So, when you see 'citation needed', it means something needs clarification and/or validity. It also means that, as a reader, you need to understand that what you are reading may not be true or factual.

The first post is a bit off about plagiarism, though. Plagiarism is typically when you write words in your written work that come directly from another author word-for-word without quoting the text and citing the author. Using an idea, but writing it in your own words is not always plagiarism depending on how you use the idea. Taking an idea might be considered theft of an idea and may get you in trouble if it happens to be copyrighted or patented, but it is not always considered plagiarism. Plagiarism is typically thought to be the act of stealing another author's words or writing and claiming them to be your own.

There is no law, however, governing plagiarism. There are only laws that govern trademarks, copyrights and patents. Generally, if someone wants to file a lawsuit related to 'plagiarism' it goes under copyright infringement because as soon as a work is written, it's considered to be copyrighted. You simply have to prove the original author's work was written before the infringer's work and also explain how the infringer may have found the work to infringe on it (i.e., library, bookstore, etc).

The word 'plagiarism' is used to uphold an ethical standard in professions that require extensive writing like journalism, novelists, in academia and in technical writing. All of these types of written work uphold this standard to prevent wholesale copying of an original author's written words and claiming them to be by another author.

Preventing plagiarism is one of two primary reasons to need a citation. The other reason for citation is to validate what has been written with an authority to give the statement credibility.

Answer 3

It the document is a rough draft, it means that the author still needs to fill in the citation (the original source of the information) before finishing it. If the document is finished, it means that the author forgot to complete the work.

Answer 4

The answer above is correct.
Are you referring to Wikipedia in your question?

Not everything listed in Wiki has been verified to be fact.
After some of the information it says "citation needed", meaning the information hasn't been verified to be from a factual source.