Middle School Library: The WHAT, WHY, WHERE & HOW of Citation & Creative Commons

Why should you cite your sources?

1. Citations reflect the careful and thorough work you have put into locating and exploring your sources.
2. Citations help readers understand the context of your argument and are a courtesy to the reader, who may share your interest in a particular area of study.
3. Citations allow you to acknowledge those authors who contributed to your learning and your work.
4. Citations, by illustrating your own learning process, also draw attention to the originality and legitimacy of your own ideas.
5. By citing sources you demonstrate your integrity and skill as a responsible student and participant in your field of study. 

(From "When and Why to Cite Sources." University at Albany. 2013. Retrieved 19 Aug. 2017. http://library.albany.edu/infolit/citesources)

Head on over to your Noodeltools account and save all your sources in a new project, and then share that project with Ms. Molina.

You have to cite everything:

• you reference
• you use for research
• you use in your paper

"I just know this!" If you asked five people on the street about this fact, would they know it? A good example is "Who was the first President of the United States?" Everybody knows this is George Washington. But if you asked "When was George Washington born?" they'd need to look it up first. You have to cite wherever you looked that information up.

• Creative Commons Search  
• Flickr Advanced Search (Make sure to click "All Creative Commons")
• Google Image Search  (Make sure click "Tools" and then "Labeled for Reuse")

How can we make sure we are properly crediting artists and creators when we use their content? By using Creative Commons. Check out the video below to understand how we share and credit writing, videos and pictures legally online. 

("Creative Commons Kiwi." Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand. Retrieved 9 Nov 2014. http://creativecommons.org/videos/creative-commons-kiwi)