Researching and Reporting your
Sources
Never, ever, ever copy someone’s words.
This is called plagiarism and is just as serious as
stealing. You may learn from someone else’s words,
just as you learn from listening to someone talk. Think
about the words you read, take notes to help you
remember what you read, but write your own words
about the subject. This is called RESEARCH.
Using the internet:
Always list the website where you got your
information. Do not list the search engine. NEVER
copy and paste text. For instance, I googled (a
search engine) for “old Navajo culture for kids”.
This is what I got:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/american/nav
ajoland/ancientroots.html
This was one of my sources of information, and
should be listed this way in my sources at the end
of my report:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/american/navajoland
/ancientroots.html
Using pictures from the internet:
Look for the © symbol. This means copyright
protected. It is someone else’s property. One ©
means that you cannot copy the picture. CC or no
copyright sign, means you can. Hint: Try flickr
first; all of the pictures posted may be used.
© Bettmann / CORBIS
You should check every picture and find out if it
can be used for your educational purposes, but if
you see the © symbol, then you should not use it
without checking the sources to find out if a
school report is allowed to copy it if you list your
sources. You may be able to state who took the
picture, as the photographer here is listed. If you
don’t know if it is okay or not, you could be
stealing someone’s creative work. This picture
came from an educational website, but the
picture was copyrighted. I have included the
copyright information.
Listing your sources (for fifth graders):
• Textbook: Title of book, publisher, page number
(year published)
United States History, Canada, Mexico, & Central
America, Harcourt, Inc, p.73 (2003)
textbook
title page
Textbook copyright page
United States History, Canada, Mexico, & Central America,
Harcourt, Inc, p.73 (2003)
What if I use a magazine?
author’s name, “article title”, magazine title,
(Month and year)
T.H.Watkins, “Hawk High over Four Corners”,
National Geographic (September 1996)
Using a book:
Author’s name, title of book, page #,
(year published)
Look in the back of the book. The
author of the book has listed his or her
sources, too.
Using a book:
Bial, Raymond, The Navajo, p 62-65, 1999
This is the book I used for my report. I wrote it
in my source list, along with the pages I read
and used for my report.
What if I use an encyclopedia?
Name of encyclopedia, Volume number, page
number (year)
All of this information
will be in the front
of the encyclopedia (except the
Pages you used). Sometimes
the encyclopedias are online.
Then list the source as a
website along with the title
of the part you used.
Is this all there is to reporting sources?
NO!
This is a good start for fifth graders. As you get
older and do more research, you will learn about
more detailed ways to list your sources. Now you
are learning how important it is to give someone
credit for the information. After all, you were not
born knowing all these things you researched! You
had to get the information somewhere. When you
write a book, students may list you in their sources.
You will be very proud to have helped someone else
learn!