In the creative
arts, credits are an acknowledgment of those who participated in the production. They are often shown at the end of movies and on CD jackets. In
film,
video,
television,
theater, etc.,
credits means the list of
actors and behind-the-scenes staff who contributed to the production.
Non-fiction In
non-fiction writing, especially academic works, it is generally considered important to give credit to sources of information and ideas. Failure to do so often gives rise to charges of
plagiarism, and "piracy" of
intellectual rights such as the right to receive a
royalty for having written. In this sense the financial and
individual meanings are linked. Academic papers generally contain a lengthy section of footnotes or
citations. Such detailed crediting of sources provides readers with an opportunity to discover more about the cited material. It also provides a check against misquotation, as it's easy for an attributed quote to be checked when the reference is available. All of this is thought to improve
integrity of the instructional capital conveyed, which may be quite fragile, and easy to misinterpret or to misapply.
In fiction In
fiction writing, authors are generally expected to give credit to those who contributed significantly to a work. Sometimes authors who do not want credit for their work directly may choose to use a
pen name. A
ghostwriter gives all or some of the credit for his or her writing to someone else. ==In computing==