What gets cited
Not every sentence needs a source. Statements of convention, such as how a citation style handles multiple authors, are referred to the relevant manual. Claims about how people learn or write are cited to published research. Observations from my own teaching are attributed to experience and not presented as findings.
Where a claim would change what a student does and rests on evidence, it gets a source. If it does not have one, I would rather say plainly that this is what I have observed.
How sources are chosen
- Primary over secondary. If I refer to a study, I have read the study, not a summary of it.
- Style manuals over style guides that paraphrase them, and always the edition named.
- Peer-reviewed work over preprints where both exist, with preprints identified as such.
- Institutional guidance quoted as one institution's practice, never as universal requirement.
How to use this site in your own work
Two rules matter here.
First, do not cite a study through my description of it. Find the original and cite that. Citing a source you have not read is a real academic integrity issue, and quoting it as described in a web resource is a weaker move than simply reading it.
Second, if you refer to something I have written, cite it as a web resource with author, title, this site as publisher, and the review date shown on the page. Then check whether your assignment permits web resources at all, because many do not.
Broken and moved sources
Links break. If you find one that no longer resolves, or that now points somewhere unrelated, tell me. I check links during scheduled reviews, but readers find them faster.
Style manual editions
Citation styles are revised, and guidance written against an old edition can be quietly wrong. Pages dealing with citation name the edition they follow. If your department requires a different one, follow your department and treat this site as background.