Common knowledge: history department

Basic historical information available in encyclopedias or history textbooks falls under the classification of "common knowledge" and does not need to be cited. Information of this sort includes:

historical names

historical dates

historical events

historical terms

It is NOT appropriate to quote directly from any source (including encyclopedias and textbooks) without proper citation, but the source of the basic facts themselves need not be cited. Historical facts found on the Internet do not need to be cited if they can also be found in standard encyclopedias and textbooks. DO NOT take it for granted, however, that facts from the Internet are accurate. Accept them only if the same information can be found in an encyclopedia or textbook.

Any teacher making a research assignment may, at his or her discretion, require each student to submit a list of general works consulted in the gathering of common historical knowledge.

EXAMPLE:

Germany’s army, the Wehrmacht, invaded Poland using blitzkrieg tactics on September 1, 1939, and in so doing, began World War II. (NO CITATIONS NEEDED.)

HISTORICAL SOURCES REQUIRING PROPER CITATION

1. Direct quotations from any source.

2. Images or graphics (from the Internet or elsewhere).

3. Historical opinions, theories or facts which are recent and/or controversial.

(Internet or print media published in the last 25 years.)

EXAMPLES:

René Descartes wrote from Sweden, “It seems to me that men’s thoughts freeze here in winter just like the water….” (DIRECT QUOTE—CITATION REQUIRED)

In his book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1999), Edward O. Wilson argues that the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18^th century were perhaps the last European intellectuals of modern times to believe in the concept of the unity of all knowledge.

(OPINION FROM A RECENT BOOK—CITATION REQUIRED)

George Hudler, a plant pathologist at Cornell University, has recently suggested that a fungus called Claviceps purpura or ergot may have contributed to the witch hysteria which culminated in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. (RECENT, CONTROVERSIAL THEORY—CITATION REQUIRED)

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Common knowledge: history department

HISTORICAL SOURCES REQUIRING PROPER CITATION

In his book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1999), Edward O. Wilson argues that the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century were perhaps the last European intellectuals of modern times to believe in the concept of the unity of all knowledge.

(OPINION FROM A RECENT BOOK—CITATION REQUIRED)

In his book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1999), Edward O. Wilson argues that the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18^th century were perhaps the last European intellectuals of modern times to believe in the concept of the unity of all knowledge.