Document your Source Material

All things are viewed and understood in context.  The relationship to the environment gives meaning to the object.

Without an understanding of the context in which a statement is made, the statement is effectively meaningless.

You must know who said it, when it was said, and where it was said (or written).  Without these references for the authority of the statement, there is no way to verify the truth and it is not worth even trying.  The statement must be considered irrelevant.

If the statement is universally true and can be independently proved to be so, then it still should be referenced as a courtesy to the listener, unless it is so trivial that mention of it is just a "cute literary effect." 

This is why all non fiction work must have an known author, with authenticated credentials, a date of publication, and a reference section, or bibliography documenting source material and substantiating factual assertions.

You must record your source material and document your facts for your arguments to have merit.


copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer