How To Quote Or Credit The Work Of Others

If something is common knowledge in your field, you don’t need to worry about crediting anyone — just don’t use trademarked names/concepts or plagiarize. As long as you are not intentionally plagiarizing, you shouldn’t have any issues here (but of course, this is not official legal advice).

If you do need to credit somebody, just keep it super simple! In general, you’ll find yourself in one of these two scenarios:

If the quote is important to include, include it in-line.
Ex. “I think that writing is the best thing for people to do. As Jim Writerson said in Writing Is Good, “writing is a really good thing for good people to do.”
Quickly mention their name and/or book/publication in-line.
Ex. “My favorite way of writing is the Writerton method, taught by Jim Writerson in his Writing Is Great online course.”

You don't need to use fancy footnotes or citations. As long as you give credit where credit is due — you don’t need to worry too much.

It’s very common to reference others’ work and put your own spin on it. Just make sure to focus primarily on your individual take on their work — referencing it and using it to explain your own perspective.