Unit 4 posting, why do we have to cite our sources?

Hello everyone.
This weeks assignment is to explain why we should cite our sources when writing a paper for school.
Well, one good reason would be to let the teacher and class mates know where my thought process goes and where it will lead too. It also means that I am going to give credit to the person who thought about the topic first. What I mean by that is that other people have researched that topic before, and have published their findings, for me and other people to read and to get their conclusion from it. The author has a right to get the credit for the work they put into the topic. Also, in order to not commit plagiarism, citing the source where the information comes from is most important. Plagiarism is not just a ethical problem, but it can also have legal consequences. I remember a few years back, a girl from a college, I forgot which one, published a book. She took parts from another book that one of her professors wrote and made it her own, without citing the professor. This was discovered and all the proceeds of that book where given to the professor. So, just because she forgot to cite her source, she was cut out of a lot of money, but not only that, she had another book in the making and her publisher dropped her. I think she payed dearly for her mistake, but it was right to do so. She had not right to pass her professors work off as her own and make a profit off it. So, now I can see why citing sources is not just important, but it is essential to writing that has to be researched.