Mann Instruction Toolkit: Citing Sources

This activity will help students to look critically at the citations provided by citation generators and to find the mistakes. This will both help students learn the citation style of their discipline and to look more critically at seemingly quick fixes during the research process.

In this session, students will: find scholarly sources using the library catalog or discovery service, create a citation using a citation style, learn the parts of an annotated bibliography and create an annotated citation. Powerpoints and assignment sheet included.

This classroom activity is best for a class of ~20 or fewer students. Students are divided into several groups and each group is given a source and scenario (i.e., one source includes the right keywords but doesn't fit the subject). Ask students to address each scenario and what they would use the source for (if they would).

This 3 minute video introduces the concept of 'scholarship as a conversation' and describes how citations enable scholarship to be a sustained and progressive conversation.

2 minute video from NCSU on what citations are and why we must use them.

3 minute video from the Open University.

Video produced by Mendeley on getting started with all of the basic features.

The official training channel for EndNote.

CUL guide with 11 quick videos on the different features of Zotero.

This powerpoint deck was created by Sarah Young to introduce citation managers broadly and zotero more specifically.

Lesson plan created by Sarah Y. to accompany the above powerpoint slides.

Answers to the plagiarism worksheet have been incorporated into a PowerPoint. Mel Jensen adapted the PowerPoint from exercise developed by Tom Ottaviano. See original exercise in the Resources for the Course box on this page.

Interactive tutorial required by all CU Arts & Sciences undergrads. Includes definitions of citations, paraphrasing, and provides examples of each.

Self-guided tutorial from UT Austin that teaches students how to identify elements in citations, how to distinguish different library resources and locate library resources from citations.

A comprehensive UAlbany guide on understanding plagiarism, how to avoid it and proper use of citations.

This CUL libguide is a curated list of non-CUL citation guides that can help with a variety of citation styles, including for maps & media.

CUL Cornell Data Services guide on properly citing data.

Cornell Law School Guide on citing legal documents.

Google Scholar Citations is a profile you can claim and customize to help people find your published research online. Once you claim your account (all you need is a regular Gmail account), you can customize your profile, ensure that none of your publications have been missed and add any contact information you'd like to help professional contacts reach you.

If students haven't learned a citation management software, they can still get help generating citations with the help of this tool.

If doing a session on plagiarism, work with faculty to have students complete this worksheet before class. Students can then compare notes to the Plagiarism Powerpoint with the correct answers.

This exercise was developed by Tom Ottaviano. Answers can be shared with students directly or through Powerpoint.