Louise is an undergraduate student in economics and management. At the end of the school year, she must submit a report to one of her teachers in order to graduate. While rereading her bibliography, Louise realises that she forgot to reference the anonymous sources she used when writing her report. As a result, Louise questions whether she needs to cite these anonymous sources and how she might do so if necessary.
What is an anonymous source?
According to the National Centre for Textual and Lexical Resources, "A source is anonymous if the author's name is unknown." As such, the origin of the source cannot be identified.
On its "Anonymous Books" page, Espace Français quotes Antoine-Alexandre Barbier and adds that "books that lack an editor's name and translations whose translator is unknown should also be considered anonymous works".
Nevertheless, an anonymous source is just as important as a known source. A referencing methodology must be respected when citing an anonymous source.
"For a colander, having holes is not a defect." Anonymous
"If failure teaches you something, you're not a loser." Anonymous
Quotations from the website West France on the Quote of the Day page
