Q. When writing a paper, do you footnote information that you have learned in multiple sources?
A. If what you learned is common knowledge, then there’s no need to cite sources, but if it’s something that most people would need to look up or that different sources treat differently, then you should identify which sources you used. Obviously, this calls for judgment and partly depends on who your readers are and what you can expect them to know. For help with student papers, please see our free student pages.