Just like you at this long party, academic writers make an effort to learn about the conversations around their topics before they begin to write. What have other writers shared? What conclusions have been made? Is there anything new to add to the conversation?
In the process of writing, the academic writer makes references to conversations that have happened earlier and makes sure to provide enough information about this earlier conversation so that someone else can:
a.) recognize that the language or ideas come from some other source
b.) find the original source if they are interested in learning more
In academic writing, this is called citing your sources.