Attributions best practices

Our guidelines for how to properly add attributions to your articles, use effective links and how to correctly source information received first hand.

Unless you are reporting on an event you yourself attended and used no additional information or sources, then you should be including multiple attributions in your story. Here are some best practices for attributing information correctly within your story: 

Always make it clear where you got the information from: If you received the info from a press release, publicly available interview, public event, or individual interview, say so. If you interviewed the person yourself, you can say: X person said in an interview, X person told me, X person told *name of contributor profile*. 

Even if the information has been widely reported, you should always state where you received it from. 

Include links when you can: Links with the information you’re citing will not always be readily available, but when they are, you should include them within the text of the article. For example: 

Avocados are a fruit, according to Harvard Health.

If links are not readily available, you should still state where the info came from. For example: 

Chia seeds are full of antioxidants and have many health benefits, according to The Chia Seed Cookbook. 

Court documents: Often court documents are not readily accessible online or to the public. In this case, you should make it clear whether you were able to look at the court documents yourself or whether you are citing another publication who viewed them. If you were able to obtain them yourself, you can write “according to court documents obtained by *contributor profile*.” If you don’t want to use the first person, you can address yourself as a publication.You should make it clear at least on first reference whether you’ve obtained the documents yourself. 

Many established publications use similar terminology; see CNN, ABC News, and The New York Times for examples. 

Information should always be vetted: If you are citing something online, make sure you analyze the source and fact check the information they present. Don’t just take these sources at face value because they could be pushing false information. If they get it wrong, it reflects poorly on the contributor as a trustworthy source. When information cannot be verified, it’s best practice to either refrain from republishing it or to use language such as “This source alleges” and “according to this source” to make it clear where the information is coming from. 

Remember: it is important to always give credit to the person or publication who spent time researching in order to provide that information. With proper attribution, your work has more credibility.