Lisa+Schoen+-+Resources

How to teach and practice digital referencing and citing sources in a middle school Computer Graphics class.


 * Resource 1:** Reference: APA: Website. EasyBib. Retrieved June 16, 2013, from @http://www.easybib.com/reference/guide/apa/website

This is a quick and easy reference for showing the structure of how to properly cite a source. There isn't much to it other than "structure" and "example," though with a little closer looking I found a great link that lets you entering a web address and it will help find the information and create the citation for you. I would use this as a cite for kids to go to just for a quick reminder of what they must do to properly give credit to their sources.


 * Resource 2:** Minikel P. And Kearon J (2006, March). Read, Write, & Cite! Retrieved June 16, 2013 from @http://teacherweb.com/SD/Bowdle/Miller/MLA.pdf

This great published paper was made specifically for middle school students and their teachers as they learn about creating a "works cited" page for any report they might have. It includes different kinds of works, both on-line and not, as well as how to cite from movies, audio sources, speeches, works of art, and more. This page, however, uses MLA, which doesn't seem to be as commonly used as APA, but I do like how it has ways of referencing all the different sources. I could especially use the how to reference a work of art page when having students do projects based on printed images.


 * Resource 3:** Bunyi A. (2010, November 5) Identifying Reliable Sources and Citing Them. Scholastic. Retrieved June 16, 2013, from @http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2010/11/reliable-sources-and-citations

This site actually has lesson plans! It goes step-by-step through four lessons to help teachers work with students to do proper research, first using both reliable information from sources arranged by the teacher in books and a quick Google search for random sites. The second lesson has students compare two different internet sources - one reliable and one not. The third lesson goes into citing sources, and the last talks about how to check for reliability in your sources. The lessons seem to be geared more towards elementary kids, though I can see how they could be easily modified for my middle school students. The first lesson suggests using a library, which our building doesn't have, so it would mean finding physical sources first. I like how it goes through showing students the differences but lets them make their own conclusions on why one is better than the other.