Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and if you’re a student writing papers or a professional writing reports, you’ve probably had to deal with citations. I’m here to tell you there’s something you may be citing that you can actually leave off your bibliography.
And that’s encyclopedia entries. If you referenced Britannica to learn some piece of information, say, the date of a certain war, you don’t need to cite that in your paper, according to the Chicago Manual of Style and the associated Turabian guide. Encyclopedia knowledge is considered “common knowledge” and therefore doesn’t require a source.
You must, however, always cite original research and quotes. For example, if you reference a paper arguing that the war in question didn’t really start on the commonly accepted date, but actually started earlier, this is not common knowledge and must be cited. If you directly quote the source—which you should only do sparingly, since your work should be your own work—this also requires a thorough citation, even if you’re quoting an encyclopedia.
That’s your Grammar Minute! Visit thegrammarminute.com for more tips and tricks.