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A citation is a formal reference to a published or unpublished source that you consulted and obtained information from while writing your research paper. The way in which you document your sources depends on the writing style manual your professor wants you to use for the class [e.g., (American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Laguage Association (MLA), Chicago, Turabian, etc.]. The act of citing sources is also your best defense against allegations of plagiarism (Baraceros, 2016). According to this author, the following are the purpose of citation. 1. To give importance and respect to other people for what they know about the field 2. To give authority, validity and credibility to other people's claim, conclusions and 3. arguments 4. To prove your broad and extensive reading of authentic and relevant materials about your topic 5. To help readers find contact the sources of ideas easily 6. To permit readers to check the accuracy of your work and 7. To save yourself from plagiarism Ballenger in 2012 also added more important reasons why citation is important. The following reasons are: 1. Citing other people's words and ideas indicates that you have conducted a thorough review of the literature on your topic and therefore, you are reporting your research form an informed and critically engaged perspective. This increases your credibility as the author of the work. 2. Other researcher's ideas can be used to reinforce your arguments. In many cases, another researchers' argument can act as the primary context from which you can emphasize the significance of your study and to provide supporting evidence about how you addressed the "So What?" question. 8 CO_Q2_SHS Practical Research 1 Module