The Source's Apprentice

Educator Tips for Teaching Source Incorporation and Avoiding Plagiarism

Source's Apprentice Bibliography Project

Texts and Research on Source Attribution and Plagiarism

Missouri Write to Learn Teacher Tips

Katie McCabe, 9-12 Grade Teacher, Republic High School, mccabek@mail.republic.k12.mo.us:

I use a Research Worksheet that includes these elements:

• Citation:

• Cluster: (Instructions: Read the research material first, then turn it over. Cluster all the main ideas you remember, then turn the source back over and fill in things you missed.)

• Quotes:

Then, I only allow them to use this sheet to write their paper. Finally, they must turn in their sources with their paper.

Amy Fifer, 12th Grade Teacher at Pleasant Hill, afifer@pleasanthillschools.com:

My mantra is "give credit where credit is due." I also call MLA a "formula" and liken it to Algebra (for people who like that sort of thing) so that they have "variables" that are plugged in to certain places.

Bethany Boaz, 9-10 Grade Teacher, Marionville R-9, bboaz@marionville.k12.mo.us:

I don't allow my kids to print out any information. I have them take notes or do webs for all their research. This prevents plagiarism since they are less likely to write out the source word by word. Then, I only allow them to use their notes when they begin typing--no books or websites.

Beth Kania-Gosche, Pre-Service Secondary English, Saint Louis University, bkaniago@slu.edu:

I use a scavenger hunt so that students can practice MLA format for Works Cited list. They have to find an article in a newspaper, a chapter from a book with two editors, a website with no author, an article from an online magazine, etc--generally, the harder to format source types. When finished, they bring it to me to check. I also award prizes to the first few people to finish the exercise and if students have all original sources (that is, none shared with a classmate), they receive bonus points. All students receive a grade for the completed scavenger hunt. This reviews MLA format without lecturing on it yet again and gives them further library practice.

Helpful Links

The Purdue OWL

Landmark's Son of Citation Machine

Library of Congress Learning Page