What is a source?

A source is the origin of knowledge or information. For exsample a person with expertise in a subject area, or a book containing factual information (Orgeret, 2024, para. 1). In academic writing, this typically means documented knowledge from course literature, academic books, scientific articles, and other scholarly sources.

Why do we use sources?

To deepen your knowledge: sources provide in-depth understanding and new perspectives.
To demonstrate understanding: referencing academic literature shows that you have engaged with and mastered key concepts.
To strengthen your arguments: sources add weight and credibility to your claims.
To contextualise your work: you connect your own work to existing research and scholarly debate.
To document: help your reader — and yourself — trace the sources that support what you write.
To give credit: acknowledge the original author for their ideas and work.
To demonstrate integrity: be an honest, ethical researcher who does not take credit for others' work or use fabricated sources — and avoid plagiarism and cheating. See the Toolbox sections on Plagiarism and Academic misconduct. (Not yet published).

When do you need to cite sources?

Direct quotes: any word-for-word reproduction of another's text.
Paraphrasing: when you convey someone else's ideas or arguments in your own words.
Facts and figures: anything that is not common knowledge — such as specific dates, statistics, or theories.
Images, tables, and figures: when you reproduce or are inspired by graphics, illustrations, or data visualisations from other sources.

There is also a distinction between primary and secondary sources. See the Toolbox section on Secondary sources. (not yet published).

Warning: Do not use ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini to find source references!

These tools can generate references that look legitimate but are entirely made up. Submitting fabricated references is considered serious academic misconduct.

These tools are appropriate for:

understanding academic topics and concepts
getting help with structure, language, and wording

If an AI tool provides you with references, you must always:

verify that the source actually exists in the library system Oria or in Research databases
read the original source yourself before citing it — even if the AI gives you author names, titles, and page numbers, there is no guarantee the details are correct. In fact, there is a good chance they are not. You are responsible for checking everything you cite.

Reference

Orgeret, K. S. (2024, November 25). Kilde – opphav [Source – origin] In Store norske leksikon. https://snl.no/kilde_-_opphav