denkspuren

The purpose of any scientific activity is to gain insight, to understand something, to advance knowledge in a field, to make some theory applicable etc. In any case, your are standing on someone else shoulders – a statement attributed to Isaac Newton (1642-1726), who revolutionized physics. Even a genius like Newton rarely creates something from scratch. There is always a basis, a foundation, work done by other people, we built our research upon. The issue is: Give credit where credit is due! In science, you do so by referencing the work (books, papers, articles and – in rare cases – web sites) of others your scientific outcome (books, papers, articles and – in rare cases – web sites) relies and is built on. It is a way to say “Thank you for letting me stand on your shoulders that helped me do my work.” This might include referencing private communication. Here, I don't mean any sort of assistance you received while you were stuck, but personal contacts, which decisively influenc...