Common Knowledge
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Transcript of Common Knowledge
Common Knowledge: Context, Ideas, and WordsSarah Kirkley, [email protected]
What is Common Knowledge?
What is Common Knowledge?
Common knowledge refers simply to information that most people know.
Examples:
• Earth orbits the sun.• The freezing temperature of water
is 32 degrees Fahrenheit .
Sometimes information that you may not have known can also be considered common knowledge.
Wait, what?
What is Common Knowledge?
Bill Cosby Confused [Online image]. (2014). Retrieved from http://memegenerator.net/Bill-Cosby-Confused/caption/5208392
What is Common Knowledge?
If the information can easily be verified in more than 5 reputable resources, then it is considered common knowledge and does not require citation.
Examples:
• The state flower of Georgia is the Cherokee rose.
• Canada has two official national languages: French and English.
Common Knowledge: ContextCommon knowledge can also be more specific in certain contexts and varies depending on audience.
• Information widely known within a particular field of study considered common knowledge.
• Information widely known within a country or culture considered common knowledge.
Common Knowledge: Context• In the field of Literature,
it is commonly known that Toni Morrison is a prominent African-American novelist.
• In the field of Chemistry, it is widely known that the chemical formula for ethane is C2H6.
Toni Morrison [Online image]. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3534.Toni_MorrisonChemical Formula Ethane [Online image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mrbouyer.com/Mr_B_Place/Mr_B_Science/daily_lessons/calkane.htm
Common Knowledge: Context• Most Americans know
that Michelle Obama is the First Lady.
• Many Germans commonly mix beer with soda or juice to make a drink called a “radler.”
Michelle Obama [Online image]. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama
Radler [Online image]. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.wishfulchef.com/german-radler/
Common Knowledge: IdeasWidely known ideas can also be considered common knowledge, although it rarely occurs. Most ideas require citation!
Example:
• Culture is the means humans use to adapt to their environments (anthropology).
Bright Ideas Stick Man [Online image]. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.geovation.org.uk/tag/ideas/Harvard College (2014). The Exception: Common Knowledge. Retrieved from http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page342055
Common Knowledge: VerifyVerifying that information is correct before just assuming that it is common knowledge is an important step!
Common Knowledge: WordsWhile information is common knowledge, the words used to express it are not. Lifting exact words or phrases or simply rearranging words is considered plagiarism.
Cut & Paste. [Online image]. (2011). Retrieved from http://robertagoli.blogspot.com/2011/05/plagiarize-and-google-will-get-you.html
“[…] At the University of Maryland, a student reprimanded for copying from Wikipedia in a paper on the Great Depression said he thought its entries -- unsigned and collectively written -- did not need to be credited since they counted, essentially, as common knowledge.”
Common Knowledge: Words
Gabriel, T. (2010, Aug 02). CHEAT SHEET; for students in internet age, no shame in copy and paste. New York Times
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/734572010?accountid=13713
Common Knowledge: Cite
When Do You Cite? [Online image]. (2014). Retrieved from libguides.ucmercedlibrary.info
Common Knowledge: Cite
When to cite:
• If you lifted ideas, phrases, or sentences word-for-word from any book, journal article, website, or other resource.
• If you reworded information from any resource.
• If you are even slightly unsure of whether or not the information is considered to be common knowledge.
Common Knowledge
Questions? Comments?
Sarah Kirkley, MLISSerials Librarian
library.savannahstate.edu
Workshop Series:
