Common Knowledge

group of people all saying 'We know that.'

Some pieces of information are considered common knowledge (something that most people already know), and therefore do not need to be cited.

How can you tell?

Is it something you already knew before starting your research? Is it a well known fact, an accepted definition, an important historical date? Is it like some of the ideas and facts below?

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. There are 16 ounces in a pound. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his 'I have a dream' speech in from of the Lincoln Memorial in Washingon, DC. Behaviorism is a school of psychology that was popular in the early twentieth century.
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