Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves three purposes: It gives proper credit to the authors of the words or ideas that you incorporated into your paper. It allows those who are reading your work to locate your sources, in order to learn more about the ideas that you include in your paper.

What is acknowledge source?

Cite the sources of all ideas and information that are not your own and that are not common knowledge. All ideas and information taken from a source must be acknowledged unless they are considered common knowledge. The crucial term in this rule is, of course, common knowledge.

How do you acknowledge a source properly?

You must acknowledge the original author and where you found the material within the resource. This can be done using an in-text citation, a footnote or an endnote. As there are a variety of referencing styles, you should follow your teachers' advice on which to use.