Prologue, Chapter 3: Citing Sources

In the Prologue, Vincent lays out the plan and scope of his work as well as his method when it comes to selecting and quoting authors. In Chapter 3 ("Regarding the book's title and plan of making"), he writes about citing his sources:

 "so that it can be known what is from which author, I noted their names with the words of each and so that they are not easily transposed from their proper places, I never inserted them in the margins (as is done in the glossed Psaltery and the epistles and opinions of Paul) but I inserted them between the lines themselves (as Gratian did in the compilation of the canon law)."

Vincent not only is concerned with proper attribution, he's also concerned about the process of copying and distributing his manuscript. If he writes his citations in the margins, he's concerned that copyists will ignore them or move them around in the text as they copy. If he puts his citations directly after the quotation, then it's less likely a copyist will be able to move them to the wrong place.

I find it amazing that a 12th-century monk is upholding modern scholarly conventions when it comes to avoiding plagiarism by correctly and consistently citing his sources!