If you don't acknowledge other people's work, you might be accused of plagiarism.
Plagiarism is defined as taking, using and passing off as your own, the ideas or words of another.
Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence, and can result in your work being failed.
There are other reasons why you should always acknowledge your sources:
- to substantiate the knowledge, theories and discussions that you present in your papers
- to show that you have researched your material, and that the ideas that you present have been considered in the light of documented material on the subject
- to demonstrate that you have read a range of sources
- to allow your readers to identify and retrieve your sources for their own use
