"Common Knowledge" seems to imply the writer already knows it, bur
really means that it is a fact that is not in dispute and is normally
included in a basic reference source.
Maybe looking at the Bibliography as a list of everything that was used
or consulted in researching the topic rather than just the material
cited in the work makes it more clear. You don't need a parenthetical
cite for Lincoln's birthday, but a basic encyclopedia article would be
included in the bib.
Some resources that discuss 'common knowledge' and citations
http://www.writing.ku.edu/students/docs/incorp.html
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~words/plagiarism/citations.html
http://tutorial.lib.umn.edu/infomachine.asp?moduleID=10&lessonID=28
I've not seen the 'five general encyclopedias' as a rule for that. The
MLA Handbook 6th ed. Says 'you rarely need to give surces for familiar
proverbs...,well-known guotations...,or common knowldedge... But you
msut indicate the source of any infomration or material that you took
from someone else'(sec 2.6). However, what is considerd 'common
knowledge' to a college undergraduate may be different than an 8th
grader.
And while the 'common knowledge' aspect is somewhat common knowledge, I
think I would ask the English teacher to cite their sources on that one.
Especially if you are working on a document that would be considered
official or standard for the district. There is plenty of writing and
research resources out there to base a decision on. It would be a bit
redundant and hard to double (or rather 5xcheck) every fact to decide
which of those are common knowledge. Maybe use something like 'if it's
in the textbook', or 'if you see it twice'.
I remember an old parody research paper, everything was footnoted, to
the extent there was one or two sentences, then a short line and a long
set of footnotes with lots of digressive discussion.
Robert Eiffert, Media Specialist
Pacific Middle School
Evergreen SD, Vancouver Washington
beiffert@egreen.wednet.edu
beiffert@crypticmachinery.net
> > I am working with several LMS on a plagiarism information brochure
> > for teachers in our district. At our last meeting one of the LMS
> > stated that an English teacher told her that information that is
> > "common knowledge" does not have to be cited, either in a
> > bibliography or with an in-text citation. The English teacher used
> > the example of Abraham's birthday being on Feb 12th. The teacher
> > stated that because this information can be located in five general
> > encyclopedias, it does not have to be cited. I think this is a poor
> > example, because for middle and high school students this would NOT
> > be "common knowledge". This generated quite a discussion. I believe
> > that we are teaching the entire research process and students need
> > to cite all their work. Also, teachers need to require students to
> > cite their work. Has anyone run across this "common knowledge" idea?
>Yes. You'll find it in the MLA Guidelines as information that recurs in
five or more sources (and therefore does
>not need to be cited). Lincoln's birthday would be common knowledge.
The definition of common knowledge is based
>on the nature of the information itself. If you are preparing students
for college research, you may wish to teach >them this bit about MLA.
It's not just something your English teacher made up.
http://www.cbc2.org/instruction/library/mla/Doctutorial2.htm
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