The Skill: Evaluating information found in your sources on the basis of accuracy, validity, appropriateness for needs, importance, and social and cultural context

The Challenge: While most kids know not to believe everything they read online, the majority also don’t take the time to fully evaluate their sources, according to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The same study showed that, on average, kids as young as 11 rate themselves as quite proficient Internet users, which may inflate their confidence.

The Skills: Developing and refining search queries to get better research results

The Challenge: Students will enter a search term, say, “Abraham Lincoln,” and comb through pages of results that aren’t related to their research (think Lincoln beards, Lincoln Logs), rather than narrowing their original query (“Lincoln assassination”).

The Skill: Displaying persistence by continuing to pursue information to gain a broad perspective

The Challenge: Studies have shown that when using a search engine, kids often stop at the first search result, which they deem the most trustworthy.

The Skill: Displaying emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite challenges

The Challenge: Today’s students are used to information on demand. So when they can’t find the answers to their questions after they’ve spent a few minutes poking around online, they may grow frustrated and throw in the towel.

The Skill: Respecting intellectual property rights of creators and producers

The Challenge: Increasingly, young people don’t see piracy as stealing. One survey found that 86 percent of teens felt music piracy was “morally acceptable.”

The Skill: Using social networks and information tools to gather and share information

The Challenge: Some kids don’t understand the line between sharing information and plagiarizing it. A survey by plagiarism-prevention firm Turnitin found that the most widely used sources for cribbed material are sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, and Ask.com.

It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

• Citing sources: Overview
• Remember: citing sources isn't just about creating a bibliography/works cited page! It is also about in-text citations of others' work.
• Listen to and ask your teacher. They may have you use a different citation format, or require/not require specific parts, but this is still a necessary skill for responsible, and legal research and reporting.

• Get in the habit of building an annotated bibliography, or at least taking good notes and documenting where you found them.
• It can be as simple as an ongoing Google Doc. Name it a title relevant to the research topic, copy and paste relevant links as you find them...BUT INCLUDE A SHORT SNIPPET ABOUT THE PAGE!
• An annotated bibliography will become your references list as you develop your work. 

You have a topic, you have a reputable, reliable source, and you have pointers on organizing your information...now use them!

Fair Use rules are copyright rules for students and teachers. You may use the following without violating copyright:

• Music - 10% or 30 seconds
• Videos, etc. - 10% or 3 minutes
• A photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety – no more than 5 images of an artist or photographer and no more than 10% or 15 images, whichever  is less from a collective work
• Book - 10% or 1000 words 
• Poem – entire poem may be used but no more than one poem by a poet or 5 poems from an anthology

• Students may incorporate portions of copyrighted materials when producing a project for a specific course.
• Students may perform and display their own projects and use them in their portfolio or use the project for job interviews or as supporting materials for application to graduate school.
• Faculty may include portions of copyrighted works when producing their own multimedia project for their teaching in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions.
• Faculty may use their project for: 
  • assignments for student self-study 
  • for remote instruction provided the network is secure and is designed to prevent unlawful copying 
  • for conferences, presentations, or workshops 
  • for their professional portfolio

Fair Use rules are copyright rules for students and teachers. You may use the following without violating copyright:

• A chapter from a book (never the entire book). 
• An article from a periodical or newspaper.
• A short story, essay, or poem. One work is the norm whether it comes from an individual work or an anthology.
• A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper. 
• Poetry: Multiple copies of a poem of 250 words or less that exist on two pages or less or 250 words from a longer poem. 
• Prose: Multiple copies of an article, story or essay that are 2,500 words or less or excerpts up to 1,000 words or 10 percent of the total work, whichever is less.
• Illustrations: Multiple copies of a chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture contained in a book or periodical issue.

• Making multiple copies of different works that could substitute for the purchase of books, publisher's reprints, or periodicals.
• Copying the same works from semester to semester.
• Copying the same material for several different courses at the same or different institutions. 
• Copying more than nine separate times in a single semester.

• When you intend to use the materials for commercial purposes.
• When you want to use the materials repeatedly. 
• When you want to use a work in its entirety and it is longer than 2,500 words.

"Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web."  University of Maryland University College. University of Maryland, 2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.

"Copyright Information." Norcross High School. Norcross High School, 2005.  Web. 7 Dec. 2009. dit.