How to Add Credibility to Your Writing

You believe in what you write, but do your readers?

Many moons ago in journalism school, I remember my news-loving professors drilling the importance of going beyond locating, reading and studying sources. We were instructed to also cite them within our articles to back-up our statements.

This idea holds true for any type of non-fiction writing, really. The more you reinforce your ideas with information from experts and well-established entities, the more credible your text becomes.

Citing your sources also:

• allows readers to click through and read more details about the topic, leaving them feeling educated and more thoroughly informed
• gives the original person or organization credit for their findings or research so you’re not questions about plagiarism
• shows that you took the time to investigate the topic and share established, reliable facts

So, let’s dig in. To add credibility to your writing, determine which statements need to be sourced, where to find the best information and how to present it in your article.

Deciding What Needs to be Sourced

If you’re stating a fact, statistics, theories or quotes you need to give credit to the original source of…