Citations are a thing of trouble for students. They are tedious and annoying, and if not done perfectly points can be deducted. It can be argued, that sharing the origin of the information doesn’t change the ideas drawn from them. But it is important for a teacher to verify the information, make sure the information was not made up, and it is always important to give credit where credit is due.
Everyone, especially adolescents trying to find themselves, want to do things that others do. They are influenced by what their peers do, and others they look up to. This infographic shows that people in academia cite each other, and the ability to map this shows that those who write these articles cite them.
But whats interesting about this infographic is the number of articles one single article can bring in, and the time span these articles were written. For instance, an article written in 2002 was cited in articles all the way to 2010 (and probably beyond) and it cited articles all the way back to 1982. Challenge your students to follow citations and see what they can find out.
Blog: http://goo.gl/rhs6o