Citing Sources and Doing Online Research for Freelance Writing to Gain Search Engine Traffic

If there's one thing most online freelance writers forget to do, it's citing sources and doing proper research online to give their ideas credibility and strength. Even worse, the few who remember to do it still do not cite sources correctly. Journalistic ethics are universal and all academic writers are familiar with logos, the cornerstone of all writing rhetoric. Logic, reason, and evidence will drive more internet traffic to your site and you will gain more page views as an online freelance writer.

Citing sources online is much easier than you think because it only takes a few times of practice to perfect it. The internet is a huge place with many informative articles but none of those are credible if they don't have expert based knowledge or research conducted by trusted organizations. If you write about new studies in medicine or discoveries in physics, citing sources is not just important.

It is required.

Why Citing Sources is Important and How it Increases Your Internet Search Traffic

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques are required for your articles to achieve a high spot in search engines such as Google. Specifically, Google PageRank is an attribute given to every page to determine its overall importance on the internet.

One way to significantly increase your Google PageRank is to have relevant links in your article to the topics you are addressing. When researching online, it is best to mention websites that primarily use the .edu, .org, and .gov url extensions because non-profit educational sources usually rank the highest. High quality links used in the right places is more useful than you can imagine and is a proven method of increasing the popularity of your PageRank.

Avoiding Plagiarism and Maintaining Credibility

Plagiarism is one of the worst problems in online freelance writing and it will never be resolved. Many people decide to copy and paste excerpts of articles that other people have written, disguising them as their own ideas. This always backfires because almost all professional freelance writing websites heavily scan submissions to find out if there has been excessively copied material from other sources.

Unintentional plagiarism is not so rare either. Freelance writers who are not aware that certain claims must be cited break the law without even realizing it. For example, if you write a news article about the newly announced release date of a popular music band, you have to be able to back it up with evidence - preferably a link to the press release. If you want to show how marijuana can alleviate symptoms of glaucoma and cancer, you must provide a link to the study or the website containing all the necessary sources.

How to Cite Sources Online - The Differences and the Advantages

Don't worry; citing sources in articles online is much different from doing research for school term papers and magazines. The primary method of linking is the universal resource locator (URL) and all it takes is a single click for a reader to find an original study or find a news item.

Electronic online research varies from how research was done before the internet became prominent. APA and MLA formats of citing are reliable but in freelancing online, linking and using the right context within the reference to the respective link is given priority. Sites such as Associated Content only require you to provide links within the text and optional "Further Reading" sections. You are also allowed to cite library and non-internet sources by listing all cited sources at the bottom of your article; which can be done in MLA or APA format.

Simply picking a random word like "health" in your article and providing it with a URL hyperlink to the study is not useful. It is more relevant to have a keyword phrase such as "marijuana health study" as the full link instead because it is more specific to the topic you want to address. You should also consider how to introduce new citations and references to online research in your article. When referring to names of novels, plays, TV shows, song names, and movie titles, it is recommended to italicize the text.

Try addressing the organization that conducted the study instead of randomly linking it in the text. For example, write "In a new study conducted by the American Dental Association (link 'new study')" instead of writing "new study" without any proper context. Having a high quality organization name in your article improves your Google PageRank, gives you more credibility, and will get you more internet traffic and page views.

Why It is Important to Do Online Research and How to Do it Correctly

Ironically, the very links you provide must be credible themselves. The internet is not a trustworthy place and the information you find may be completely false. That is one of the reasons why expert opinions and special organizations must be chosen carefully.

One of the most reliable places to do online research is the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia . While there have been instances where the information on certain articles are inaccurate, not cited, or even intentionally false, it is rare. Overall, there is a lot of information on the site that can point you in the right direction. At the bottom of every Wikipedia page, the sources are cited and listed conveniently, with number tags pertaining to the section of text where it is mentioned. Many freelance writers use Wikipedia to do most of their research - but it should never be the only place to search for credible sources. You can even copy and paste the works cited section from Wikipedia onto your own article or link to the entire page if your topic is broad enough. And if there is a lack of credible sources or citations, the site editors will usually let readers know at the top of the page.

Be Serious and Professional About Citing Sources Online

Failing to cite sources when you need to is plagiarism and can get you in trouble with the law. If you are a freelance writer, it will get you banned if you continuously do it. For those that write a blog or maintain a website, having a professional feel drives more traffic, allows your site to be passed along by through backlinks, and with time, you will have readers citing your articles themselves.

Citing sources is required to adhere to journalistic ethics and to make the most money possible through online freelance writing. Never forget to realize where certain ideas come from because sometimes understanding that allows you to better come up with your own.