Activities

1.  Use online library catalog to look up resources by title, author, subject or keyword.
   
   
2. Make a poster that defines plagiarism and tells writers how to avoid plagiarizing.

3. Given multiple sources, locate the information needed to correctly cite the sources.
   
   
4. Given several sources, create a works cited using an online citation tool.

5. Given multiple sources, identify and explain why each source is credible or perhaps not credible.
   
   
6. Given a topic, gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student uses online library catalog to look up resources by title, author, subject or keyword.  Student understands how to search the library catalog.  Student understands he/she may look up information by title, or name of the book, article, etc.  Student understands he/she may look up information by author, or the person who wrote the material.  Student understands he/she may look up information by the subject, listed words that describe the subject matter.  Student understands he/she may look up information by keyword.  Keywords are specific words that describe the book, article, etc.  Keywords may be words in the title or specific words that reflect the subject or topic.  Student correctly uses online library catalog to look up resources.  Student knows how to locate material within the library using the call number.

2. Student makes a poster that defines plagiarism and tells writers how to avoid plagiarizing.  Student understands plagiarism is using someone else’s ideas, language or writing and presenting that work as your own, while failing to give credit to the author for his/her ideas or work.  Student includes a correct definition of plagiarism.  Student explains correctly how to avoid plagiarizing on the poster.  Student understands to avoid plagiarizing he/she should:

• Use quotation.  Copy the author’s exact words and use quotation marks.  Cite the source. 
• Paraphrase.  Put the author’s words into your own words.  Cite the source because even though you used your own words, the ideas still belong to the original author.
• Summarize information.   Shorten the article into the main ideas and cite the source because even though you have shortened it and used your own words, the ideas still belong to the original author.
• Create and use his/her own ideas.

3. Given multiple sources, student locates the information needed to correctly cite the sources.  Student correctly locates the information needed to cite source such as, type of publication, publisher, year of publication, city of publication, title, volume and author of each source.  Student understands this information can be found on the cover of the print source or within the first several pages of the print source.  Student understands that this information may be found under the About tab, Contact tab, at the bottom of the webpage, and so forth, when using  online sources.
   
   
4. Given several sources, student creates a works cited using an online citation tool.  Student correctly identifies the information needed such as type of publication, publisher, year of publication, city of publication, title, volume and author of each source.  Student understands this information can be found on the cover of the print source or within the first several pages of the print source.  When using online sources, student understands that this information may be found under the About tab, Contact tab, at the bottom of the webpage, and so forth.  As student fills in the online citation tool, student correctly types in all information in verbatim form.  Student correctly uses title case for titles and correctly capitalizes publisher, city of publication and author name.  Works cited is complete and correct.
   
   
5. Given multiple sources, student identifies and explains why each source is credible or perhaps not credible.  Student correctly identifies credible and suspect information.  Student explains correctly why a source is credible or not credible.   Student understands credible information comes from a person or organization with authority or expertise, is current and without bias.  If student uses online resources, he/she understands an educational database is more likely to be credible.  He/she understands that .edu and .gov webpages are more likely to be credible because they belong to educational institutions or the government and these entities usually have a reputation they wish to uphold.  Student knows to be extra-careful of .com, .org and .net because these sites can be purchased by anyone.  Student knows an author who has contact information online is more likely to be credible.  Student knows websites with primary source documents or secondary source documents with book, journal or scholarly article citations are more likely to be credible. Student understands the website should be professional in appearance and free from grammatical and spelling errors.
   
   
6. Given a topic, student gathers relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assesses the credibility of each source; and quotes or paraphrases the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.

• Student uses online library catalog to search for relevant information from multiple print and digital sources.  Student looks up resources by title, author, subject or keyword.  Student understands how to search the library catalog.  Student understands he/she may look up information by title, or name of the book, article, etc.  Student understands he/she may look up information by author, or the person who wrote the material.  Student understands he/she may look up information by the subject, listed words that describe the subject matter.  Student understands he/she may look up information by keyword.  Keywords are specific words that describe the book, article, etc.  Keywords may be words in the title or specific words that reflect the subject or topic.  Student correctly uses online library catalog to look up resources.
• Student knows how to locate material within the library using the call number.
• Student closely reads found resources and ensures they address the topic and if they are not relevant, they continue searching for relevant information.
• Student ensures information found is credible.  Student understands credible information comes from a person or organization with authority or expertise, is current and without bias.  If student uses online resources, he/she understands an educational database is more likely to be credible.  He understands that .edu and .gov webpages are more likely to be credible because they belong to educational institutions or the government and these entities usually have a reputation they wish to uphold.  Student knows they should be extra-careful of .com, .org and .net because these sites can be purchased by anyone.  Student knows an author who has contact information online is more likely to be credible.  Student knows websites with primary source documents or secondary source documents with book, journal or scholarly article citations are more likely to be credible. Student understands the website should be professional in appearance and free from grammatical and spelling errors. 
• Student records needed information from sources.  Student avoids plagiarism by:
  
  • Using quotations.  Student copies the author’s exact words and uses quotation marks.  Student cites the source. 
  • Paraphrasing.  Student puts the author’s words into his/her own words.  Student cites the source because even though he/she used his/her own words, the ideas still belong to the original author.
  • Summarizing information.   Student shortens the article into the main ideas and cites the source because even though he shortened it and used his/her own words, the ideas still belong to the original author.
  • Creating, analyzing information and using his/her own ideas.
• Student creates a works cited using an online citation tool.  Student correctly identifies the information needed such as type of publication, publisher, year of publication, city of publication, title, volume and author of each source.  Student understands this information can be found on the cover of the print source or within the first several pages of the print source.  When using online sources, student understands that this information may be found under the About tab, Contact tab, at the bottom of the webpage, and so forth.  As student fills in the online citation tool, student correctly types in all information in verbatim form.  Student correctly uses title case for titles and correctly capitalizes publisher, city of publication and author name.  Works cited is on a separate page with the words, Works Cited, at the top.  Works cited is complete and correct.