Works Cited and Resources

10 teachers like this lesson

Print Lesson

Objective

SWBAT: how to use a database for research; learn why we use parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page.

Big Idea

This lesson is a whirlwind of necessity, in preparation for a research project.

Lesson Author

Hillary Boles

Louisville, KY

Grade Level

Sixth grade

Subjects

English / Language Arts

citation (Research Writing)

Writing

Research Writing and Practices

source (Research Writing)

research report

MLA

Standards

RL.6.1

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RI.6.7

Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

W.6.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

W.6.7

Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.

W.6.8

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.

Guiding Question

5 minutes

The Guiding Question asks the students to create a research question, and to move beyond simply a "topic" for research.

Lesson

50 minutes

Direct Teaching

I started this lesson by modeling how to research. I went to my school's library website, and clicked on the links provided to our database. I pretended that I had the topic of phones, and my research question was "How will cell phones change in the future?"

I typed in "phones" and got over 15,000 sources. Then I thought outloud, "Hmmm...maybe if I typed in cell phones and future, what will I get?" Answer: 4,500 sources. So, I started to scroll through them. The first one that looked promising was called "Cell Phones are the Future" or something. I read it outloud and the kids thought it was really funny, as it was talking about a voice-activated search engine, and the ability to send and receive e-mails. This taught us to look at the dates of our sources, because this source was written in 2000.

Finally, we found a source that fit our research question, and noted a general description about it, wrote down five facts gleaned from the article, and summarized our findings--all using our research record.

Next, I used the SpringBoard Works Cited and Parenthetical Citation instructions, and I created this little hand motion for remembering when to use parenthetical citations: