To promote the digital literacy executive order that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger enacted last year, the state's Office of Information Technology has released a series of YouTube videos featuring California's technology leaders answering questions about the importance and impact of residents being digitally literate.
By correctly citing other people's works and ideas, a student has also agreed to engage in the kind of scholarly communication that is part of academic life. Citing another person's words is a way of giving credit to that person, and of acknowledging the importance of that person's work to one's own ideas. After all, you wouldn't want someone quoting your words or using your ideas without giving you credit, would you?