As students across the country return to school from summer vacation, their teachers have already planned out the semester's coursework. For teachers and students alike, this includes research or term papers. Some students have never completed an assignment this large and they'll have to learn how to do the assignment step by step. This includes making note of each source used so he can properly cite the information and resource in his bibliography. His teacher now knows where he found the information--she knows that her student did not plagiarize, or steal the information he used.
Step 1
Teach your child what "plagiarism" means. Tell her, "Plagiarism means to use someone else's ideas without giving them the credit for those ideas, or using that person's ideas as your own." Explain why plagiarism is wrong and what the potential consequences could be, from failing the assignment, failing the class or being expelled from school, says KidsHealth website.
Step 2
Show your child how to write down his resources as he is conducting research for his assignment. Demonstrate by writing down a resource and show him how to include the author's last name and first name, the name of the book and the city where it was published. Let him know to divide the source information with a colon, then write down the publisher's name and date the book was published, according to Scholastic website. For instance, if he is citing "To Kill a Mockingbird," he would write this: "Lee, Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia: Warner Books, Inc., 1960."
Step 3
Demonstrate sourcing a magazine article as follows: "Smolowe, Jill, Herbst, Diane, Weissensee Egan, Nicole, Rakowsky, Judy and Mascia, Kristen, "Inside her Torment." People, April 26, 2010: 66-70."
Step 4
Show your child how to cite an Internet source this way: "www.scholastic.com, Toby Leah Bochan, Writing: Parent Primer." If the date of the web article is available, have your child include this information after the website article's title.
Step 5
Remind your child to ask herself these questions: Have I made a list of everything I used for my report? Did I make notes about what material came from which sources? Did I put quotation marks around exact quotes? When I put information in my own words, did I give credit to the authors? Did I ask my teacher about citing something if I didn't know how, writes KidsHealth.
Tips and Warnings
- Plagiarism includes cutting and pasting from the Internet. School districts have begun using plagiarism checkers to detect possible plagiarism in student assignments. Even in a time when students have so much electronic access to information, they need to learn how to conduct research, read the information, write the paper and cite the sources used.
- Don't allow your child to take a shortcut when he's doing a research or term paper. Make him do his research the old-fashioned way, by taking him to the library, having him check out books, read them and write down the information on index cards or notebook paper, then write out his bibliography when he has written his report.
Things You'll Need
- List of sources used
