[Math] Cite articles or book where I first found the result

citationsjournalssoft-question

I'm writing up a paper and I'm not sure how to cite a few things. It concerns a conjecture made by Quillen. Some work has been done showing it's true in some cases, false in others. These results I found in a book that had a chapter about the conjecture; of course, the book gave all the references. In the background of my paper, I want to briefly sum up these results. My question is, should I cite the articles, the book, or both? I wasn't sure what the etiquette/rules are in this situation.

Best Answer

When in doubt, cite. Cite the paper, cite the book, and explain what is it where. You've already done the hard part, so let the reader benefit from your work. It does you no harm, and is helpful for your readers.