If a child is old enough to do a research paper, the child is old enough to learn to cite the sources for borrowed information, images, music, etc. At the same time, the youngest research paper writers shouldn’t be held to the same standards as high school-age writers when it comes to creating a bibliography page, but they can start listing their sources well enough for them or their teacher to be able to go back and find that source if needed.

This PowerPoint presentation on Citing Sources was created for middle school age students, but it contains information that would benefit any age who is learning to cite their sources. The 20 pages include defining what citing sources is, when sources should be cited, what kinds of sources should be cited, the information needed to create a citation for print and online sources, a sample of in-text citations, a sample Bibliography page, plagiarism explained and potential consequences, and more.

Citing sources is a lesson in good research writing skills as well as in teaching honesty in the use of others' information and creative works. The Fair Use Act is a safety net for students and teachers in the education world, but students need to learn that the consequences can be severe when it comes to plagiarizing and pirating materials in real life. This would be a good segue to teaching copyright infringements in social media and the Internet.