Students work in groups to collect relevant publication information from a source example to build a basic citation.
Other activities in this series: Activity 8A, Citation Basics I; Activity 8B, Citation Basics II.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Identify publication information commonly included in citations.
- Combine available publication information into a basic citation.
Relevant Threshold Concepts
- Scholarship as conversation.
Suggestions for Use
- This activity should be helpful in classes where students will be creating citations for sources used in assignments.
- This activity does not rely on a particular citation style, but instead highlights the basic components of a citation.
- By understanding the basic purposes of citation and commonly included publication information, students may be better able to learn discipline-specific citation styles later.
Pre-Class Preparation
- Review the handouts and answer sheets for this activity.
- Review In-Class Procedure below.
- Read Chapter 8, How to Cite Sources, of Choosing & Using Sources, if you have not already.
- Prepare for introducing the session, using your own remarks or In-Class Procedure below, if it seems helpful.
- Prepare for leading the discussion, using your own remarks.
- Decide how many groups of at least 4 students you will need.
- Decide whether you want students to complete Handout 8C-1 and use Handouts 8C-2 and 8C-3 on paper or electronically.
- If you decided on electronic handouts, put Handouts 8C-1, 8C-2, and 8C-3 in your learning management system.
- If you decided on paper copies, print Handouts 8C-1 (1 copy per group and 1 for yourself), Handouts 8C-2 and 8C-3, (1 copy per student and 1 for yourself), and Answer Keys 8C-1 and 8C-2 (1 copy for yourself).
- Consider assigning students to read before class Chapter 8, How to Cite Sources, of Choosing & Using Sources.
- Download and/or print In-Class Procedure so you can take it with you to class.
In-Class Procedure
- Introduce the activity, telling students that here is another chance to practice collecting publication information in order to prepare to cite sources for their research assignments.
- Put students into groups of no more than 4.
- Distribute 1 copy of Handout 8C-1 to each group.
- Distribute a copy of Handout 8C-2 to every student in half the groups. (It won’t matter if you have unequal groups.)
- Distribute a copy of Handout 8C-3 to every student in the other half of the groups.
- Instruct students to complete Handout 8C-1 as a group in 10 minutes, using the handout they received as though it is the source.
- After 10 minutes, have students who used each handout share information about the source type they used, where they found the needed publication information, and the citation they created. Consider projecting each source example (Handout 8C-2 or Handout 8C-3) as it is discussed.
- Discuss the students’ experiences finding the information, especially the challenges they encountered. Make sure students realize that different publication information is available for different kinds of sources and that the resulting citations reflect that.
- Conclude by reiterating that although in their assignments they will use specific citation styles depending on the kind of scholarship they are doing, some basic purposes of citation include giving proper credit to the source and providing enough publication information that helps other scholars locate the source. Tell them that the work they just did to gather publication information would accomplish both purposes.
Relevant Choosing & Using Sources Chapters:
Chapter 8, How to Cite Sources.
