Citation is important because it is you giving credit in your paper for ideas that you borrowed from someone else to strengthen your own work. It is important to make it clear when you are using another person's ideas because you want to avoid intentional (or unintentional) plagiarism: the uncredited use of someone else's ideas and thoughts as your own. To avoid plagiarism, create in-text citations--inside the body of your paper--as well as a 'works cited' page--that tells the reader about the sources from which you got your information-- at the end of your paper, and you'll be in the clear.
