Back when I was a freelance journalist, I had to source all my articles properly. This meant getting objective proof of facts and assertions, typically by interview or with reference to government or company publications. I try to carry this attitude through into my corporate work. Proper sourcing is important because it:
- Adds credibility. Clients trust recommendations and content based on hard evidence.
- Avoids waffling. Lots of marketing copy enthusiastically chases its own tail because it has nothing more substantial to bite down on. A sentence with a quote or a fact beats a paragraph of pious verbiage.
- Inspires new ideas. Some of the best ideas I have ever had and some of the best lines I have ever come up were inspired by something I read or heard; usually in combination with something else. I like to gather my research and interview transcript and read through it all before I start writing and this is usually the time when inspiration strikes. No sources, no inspiration.
- Gives protection. Occasionally a client will ask for the source of some fact or assertion and usually many months after I’ve written something. I have some habits that help me track sources through the research, drafting and writing process which make it easy to go back to the sources if I have to. Besides reassuring clients, it is also helpful in giving me some legal protection in relation to my professional indemnity obligations.
- Makes me look clever and well-informed. I have developed pretty good research and interview skills over the last eight years and I think/hope that this comes out in my work and differentiates it.
Having said all that, I was running through a carefully-sourced presentation for a client today and I got to the slide with my recommendations on it. Every other slide had a footnote with source references. This slide didn’t. Someone asked “what’s the source for this?” I said “my brain.”
It got a good laugh but there’s a bigger issue. Sometimes people pay me for research, sometimes for content and sometimes they pay me to think hard. The question of sourcing touches on the question of value. Data is only as good as the use you make of it.
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Great post and great habits.
One more advantage of sourcing that I found in my work – you double check the client’s info.
It may take the form of finding out a competitor/ alternative/ market info that they should know about and address.
It can also happen that when you talk to other people within the client’s organization you discover new info. Usually you discover very interesting or favourable facts to strengthen the argument.
Excellent advice and excellent reasons. Where did you get the list of reasons to cite sources? (No, don’t answer that.)
Many of our clients suffer from under-sourcing and then wonder why their ideas aren’t given sufficient respect. As we tell them, the problem is not the ideas, it’s the lack of credibility. Sourcing provides that credibility until the writer is recognized as an expert himself or herself. For example, people don’t question are expertise when they sign up for our Writing Tips for a Year service, but they might question our knowledge of organic chemistry were we to write about that.
And, yes, we double-check clients’ sources for both accuracy and appropriateness.