Common Knowledge
A statement considered to be "common knowledge" does not need
to be attributed to a source. Facts that can be found
in numerous places and are likely to be found by many people are likewise considered
common
knowledge. For example, it is common knowledge
that Nathaniel Hawthorne and Franklin Pierce were famous graduates of Bowdoin
College. However, it is not common knowledge that President Pierce
appointed Hawthorne as the U.S. Consul in Liverpool in appreciation of
the author's
campaign biography of candidate Pierce in 1852. This latter fact is proposed
by Charles Calhoun, A
Small College in Maine: Two Hundred Years of Bowdoin (Brunswick: Bowdoin
College, 1993), pp. 164-165.
As a general rule well-known or basic facts do not need to be documented;
however, interpretations of such facts do.
If something is not common knowledge, or if you are not certain whether
it is or not, cite the source. During the course of your studies, you
will need
to be able to distinguish between different kinds of common knowledge: common
knowledge for the general public versus common knowledge for a specialized
audience.
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