There are millions of resources available online. This includes articles, research papers, brochures, government reports, books, Web pages, reference databases, as well as graphics, video clips, and audio. Any reference to these resources should be noted or cited.

Why Cite?

Why should you cite a resource? There are a few reasons to cite sources. To give credit to the original authors from which you gathered your information. To direct your audience to the resources you used thereby providing them with where you learned about the topic. To save your reader's time and effort in locating related resources by taking them to the exact information that you used. To distinguish between your own ideas and other's ideas.

Because the Internet is so huge, it's important to provide enough information for your audience to find the resource. This includes the:

• document title or description
• author, publisher, editor, or organization
• date at which the resource was published or updated
• date at which you retrieved the information
• URL

The date of retrieval is important as some online resources often move or are no longer available. The URL however is the most important as it provides the address for the resource. If possible, instead of typing or writing the URL, copy and paste it into your references. One wrong or missing letter in the URL will make it useless.

Digital Bibliographies

There are various ways of presenting the information or resources used. Parenthetical citations are often used within the text of a research paper or project to briefly give credit to the source while a Bibliography or Works Cited list of sources is available alphabetically at the end of the paper. Two of the most common styles for citing resources includes the APA Style and MLA Style. Online! a reference guide to using Internet resources, provides detailed information about those citation styles as well as a few others. Although this resource may be more appropriate for older students, it will provide you with an overview to these citation styles.

There are now tools available to make it easier to cite resources. Instead of trying to remember the proper order in which the author, title, and date need to be formatted, tools such as EasyBib does the formatting for you. In addition, EasyBib walks you through the steps requesting the different parts of information. Try to create a simple bibliography using EasyBib.

Another free citing tool called NoodleBib Express is available through NoodleTools. Quick Cite is somewhat of a simplified version of EasyBib citing only one source at a time using the MLA style and allowing you to copy and paste the citation into your paper. Try Quick Cite to see how it compares to EasyBib. Which one is more appropriate for your students?

Often students want to use video clips, graphics, and sounds in their projects. These, too, must be cited. Connected Teacher from Classroom Connect provides examples of how to cite different multimedia.

Be Consistent

Most of all, be consistent in giving credit. Have students cite all the resources that they use whether from the library or the Internet. Model the importance of giving credit to other people's work. Finally, have examples. If students understand the structure and have examples available, they will get into the habit of making note of the title, author, date, and URL.

Does your school or district provide a list of ways to cite sources? If not, create a list of citation structures and examples to share with your class. Make sure that you have a structure and example for every kind of resource that students may use.