It's okay not to cite work in discussion board posts because they're less formal than papers.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The statement being evaluated is a claim about citation norms in discussion board posts.

Option evaluation: Although the prompt presents a true/false question, there are no answer options provided to analyze individually. Instead, we can reason about the core claim itself.

- Why the claim is false: In academic writing and academic-integrity standards, citations are used to attribute ideas, data, or quotations to their original sources regardless of the forum or formality level. Discussion board posts, while less formal than papers, still require proper attribution when you reference others' work, ideas, statistics, or direct quotes. Failing to cite can constitute plagiarism or misrepresentation, and it undermines credibility by not showing the basis for your statements.

- Why some people might think it’s acceptable: The perception that discussions are casual and informal might lead some to downplay citations. However, many courses and institutions require you to cite sources in all scholarly communications, including online discussions, to demonstrate engagement with the material and to help readers verify claims.

- What proper practice looks like: When you mention someone else’s ideas, data, or quotes in a discussion post, provide a brief citation or reference according to the course’s formatting guidelines (for example, author-year or numeric citations, or a reference list). Even if the source is not a formal publication, giving credit is important. Paraphrased ideas should still be attributed, not treated as your own.

- Common knowledge caveat: If a fact is truly widely known and undisputed (common knowledge within a discipline), some instructors allow skipping citations for that specific piece of information. When in doubt, cite or check the course rubric.

In summary, the claim that it’s acceptable to skip citations in discussion board posts because they are less formal is not aligned with standard academic integrity practices, and citations should be used to acknowledge sources whenever ideas or data are drawn from others.

ALY6130.20393.202525 Short Academic Integrity Quiz

It's okay not to cite work in discussion board posts because they're less formal than papers.

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Similar Questions

6. I thought of an idea before I discovered that another author had said the same thing in a published source. Since I had already thought of it, I don't need to cite a source.

3. I only need to cite sources for quantitative information (i.e., numbers); ideas are not quantitative information, so I don't need to cite a source for them.

8. I do not need to cite a source for information that is common knowledge.

7. I only need to cite sources when I have directly quoted (i.e., copied word-for-word) other people's ideas or information; I don't need to cite sources if I have rephrased the idea using my own words.

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