How To... Become a Lawful Cyber Citizen
By Linda Lindroth

For Reproducible click here. PDF 45KB

For more web resources on copyright and citation lessons and fair use guidelines, click here

For more web resources on copyright and citation lessons and fair use guidelines, click here

October is Computer Learning Month, a good time to ensure that teachers and students alike are informed about copyright law and citations. Teaching students about plagiarism is part of the ISTE NETS (http://cnets.iste.org/students/s_profile-68.html) and an important step toward the NCLB goal of attaining technology literacy by eighth grade. Accomplishing this task requires taking a closer look at the U.S. copyright laws for education as well as citation guidelines for research.

What is copyright law?
For copyright law definitions and detailed analysis, visit the U.S. Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov

• Crash Course in Copyright www.utsystem.edu/ogc/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm This list of what to do when you want to use copyrighted material is an excellent guide for the classroom. After selecting the medium (images, documents, etc.), the crash course does the rest to help decipher the fair use rules for education.
• CyberSmart: Considering Copying www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/68_09.asp This website features lessons for teaching copyright and legal and ethical behaviors while using the Internet. A teacher guide includes downloadable activity sheets and a list of resource links.

Citation guidelines
The information needed to cite a resource that is used with a professional development workshop, classroom presentation or student research project is basically the same. The exact citation format for web resources depends on the selected style – with the most-used styles being MLA, APA and Chicago.

Many classroom projects end up posted on the Internet, usually on the school website. This public forum requires a rigid adherence to citation guidelines to avoid plagiarism and breaking copyright laws. Since the general public can see the posted material, which takes it outside the educational "fair use" guidelines established for copyright, care must be taken to cite all sources. Avoiding plagiarism means using the correct citations for any resources with a copyright. Here are a few of my favorites for quickly locating the correct formats.

• Duke University Libraries: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/Citing2.htm Detailed guides for citing resources within a paper and as a Works Cited or Bibliography.
• The OWL at Purdue http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/584/02 This is a comprehensive index for documenting electronic resources. Use the Research and Citation index to find web guides and research tips.
• Citation Styles Online! www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html Included here are online citation guidelines for MLA, APA, Chicago and CBE styles. There's also an extensive Other Styles section with direct web links to dozens of style categories.
• Landmarks Son of Citation Machine™ http://citationmachine.net Use this web resource to generate citations. Just select MLA or APA style, then select Print or Non-Print resource type and fill in the form online to generate the resource citation to copy and paste into your paper.
• Answers.com www.answers.com/main/posters.jsp Print a citation mini-poster or request a free full-size poster. Use the automatic Cite button for any of the over three million topics in this research database.

For more web resources on copyright and citation lessons and fair use guidelines, click here

For more web resources on copyright and citation lessons and fair use guidelines, click here

For Reproducible click here. PDF 45KB

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.