| |

Tools to Help Students Cite Sources

A few weeks ago I hosted a webinar about copyright and Creative Commons. The recording is available here on my YouTube channel. Since then I’ve had some people ask for recommendations for tools that can help students remember to save and cite their sources.

Here’s my short list of tips and tools that I recommend to help students keep track of and cite their sources.

Google Keep and OneNote Extensions

If they’re not already using one of these tools, get your students in the habit of using either Google Keep or OneNote. The browser extensions for Google Keep and OneNote let students not only save links, but also save notes about the links they’re saving. In fact, both the Google Keep extension the and OneNote extension lets students simply highlight text on a page then right-click to save that text as part of a note in Google Keep or OneNote.

The links and notes that students save with the Google Keep extension can be accessed directly inside of Google Docs while students are writing. They access those Keep notes through the righthand sidebar available while working on any Google Document. Students can then use the citation tool built into Google Docs. This short video shows how that tool works.

Notes and links saved with OneNote’s browser extension can be copied and pasted into Word documents. Where students can then use the bibliography and citation formatting tool built into Word. Here’s a short video overview of how to use that tool.

A Handful of Citation Formatting Tools

There is not a shortage of tools and templates for creating bibliographies. The ones built into Google Docs and Word are adequate for most students. If you’d like to try some others, I have a list of them here.

Creative Commons Image Search and Citations in One

The Creative Commons Chrome extension lets students search for and download Creative Commons licensed images without having to open a new tab or window. The extension also provides the text for citing the source of the image. A short overview of how the CC Chrome extension works is provided in this short screencast.

Creative Commons Music Search and Citations in One

Dig CC Mixter is one of the resources that I mentioned in my webinar about copyright and Creative Commons. I like it because it offers hundreds of instrumental tracks that can be downloaded and re-used for free with attribution. Dig CC Mixter provides the attribution text that students need to use when crediting the source of their music. Here’s a brief overview of Dig CC Mixter.

On-demand Professional Development

Other Things I Can Recommend

This is a new weekly section that was inspired by Lee LeFever’s newsletter. This week I recommend Cal Newport’s book titled Deep Work. It’s a good book for anyone looking for new ideas about how to accomplish big goals. And for a fun U.S. history lesson I recommend reading Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure.