Properly Cite your Information Sources

Building a
Collaborative
Web Project

Define

Building teams

Protect your
students

Communication
strategy

Effective
Web projects

3. Properly Cite your Information Sources

Since information can be so readily appropriated from countless sites across the Internet, as well as other digital sources, students must appreciate the importance of citing the sources of their information.

Proper citation of information sources allows the audience to determine both the truth and the value of your information. In other words, your audience will trust your credibility when they know that your information is authentic and legitimate.

Also, there are important legal copyright issues associated with students' unqualified uses of information. By requiring proper citation of information, including graphics and pictures, you will encourage your students to think more carefully about simply copying for their own use a graphic, picture, or paragraph from someone else's Web page.

By the way, if you do wish to use in your Web site a graphic, picture, or paragraph from another Web site, current Netiquette dictates that you ask permission before using it.

These resources can help you correctly cite your references:

Citing Internet Addresses: http://www.classroom.com/ resource/ CitingNetResources.html
"How students should reference online sources in their bibliographies", an excellent article reprinted here with permission. (Copyright 1996-1998. Classroom Connect)
MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources: http://www.cas.usf.edu/ english/ walker/ mla.html
Copyright by Janice R. Walker University of South Florida, endorsed by the Alliance for Computers and Writing, has gained wide acceptance among scholars and academics.
Microsoft® Encarta® Research Organizer: http://encarta.msn.com/encartahome.asp
Use Research Organizer to take notes and add pictures from Encarta articles, Web sites, books, magazines, and other sources. Then use Research Organizer to assemble the notes into an outline and create citations for your sources.

Copyright Issues

Resource Permission Templates for Teachers: http://www.landmark-project.com/permission.html
Landmarks for Schools contains many valuable resources and ideas for harvesting raw materials from the internet, including these forms for obtaining permissions to use copyrighted materials.
An Introduction to Copyrights: http://www.advanced.org/thinkquest/ web/ copyintr.html
A useful guide to copyright issues that you can apply to all student projects.
Crash Course in Copyright: http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/ IntellectualProperty/ cprtindx.htm
An online course for educators that offers easy-to-understand guidelines for fair use of others' copyrights and the creation, ownership and management of our own.
Ten Big Myths About Copyright Explained: http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.html
Informative approach to explaining ten common myths about copyright, such as, "If it doesn't have a copyright notice, it's not copyrighted" and "If I don't charge for it, it's not a violation."
Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Web Site Management: http://fromnowon.org/jun96/ legal.html
Useful information about copyright from a school Webmaster's point of view.
The Copyright Website: http://www.benedict.com/
Provides practical and relevant copyright information of interest to all Internet users.

Page 1: Define audience and purpose
Page 2: Teach something "new"
Page 3: Cite information sources
Page 4: Encourage feedback
Page 5: Include reflection pages
Page 6: Balance content & presentation
Page 7: Make it current
Page 8: Keep it simple and accessible