Manchester College
Education Department Lesson Plan Format
Lesson Plan by: Erin Shay
Lesson: Plagiarism Prevention (Parenthetical Citations)
Length: 45 minutes
Grade Level Intended: English 10 honors
Academic Standards: Common Core English/Language Arts
9-10.W.8
Follow a standard format for citation.
Performance Objectives:
Given the proper bibliographical citation for a reference, the students will produce the proper
parenthetical citation for the source as it would appear in the text 10 out of 10 times.
Assessment:
The students will complete a pre-test to review their initial comprehension over parenthetical
citations. Later in the period, they will complete a post-test to examine their current knowledge on
parenthetical citations.
Advanced Preparation by teacher:
Make copies of pre and post-tests for each student. Print each citation for the activity onto one
piece of paper largely (copied from handout). Write SUBMIT onto the chalk/white board largely
and circle it. Place flyswatter onto the chalk/white board shelf.
Procedure:
Introduction/Motivation:
As the class begins, the teacher will remind the students that yesterday they began talking about the
research papers they will be beginning next week. So, today they have something very important to
talk about. The teacher will ask the class what they know about plagiarism (Bloom: Knowledge).
The students should volunteer basic answers. To these, the teacher should agree and acknowledge
their basic answers and encourage them to be specific, or give specific examples of what plagiarism
is. Then the teacher should ask them to think about certain situations where plagiarism is
common. Ask them if they think most plagiarism is intentional or unintentional. Then on the
overhead, show them the website plagiarism.org and read them some of the fun facts,
characteristics, and ways to avoid it. Then tell the students what the punishments/consequences
are for it in your school (see student handbook for uncertainty). Lastly, be sure to give them
examples of when plagiarism happens even when it is unintentional (citation error) and ask them if
they would classify it as cheating and why (Bloom: Comprehension). Tell them that this is what
their topic of the day will be: parenthetical citations. This will help them to give credit properly
and avoid plagiarism.
Step-by-Step Process:
1. Introduce parenthetical citations by telling the students how they are used in parenthesis in
the middle of their research paper to give credit to the person they borrowed the
information from, immediately. They usually consist of just an authors last name and the
page number they are found on, or if they are from a website, a paragraph number. (MI:
Verbal-Linguistic)
2. Put a few examples on the board.
3. Model the difference between the web site and the book reference by the same author for
the same article: (MI: Visual-Spatial)
a. Web (Smith par. 6)
b. Print (Smith 6)
4. Tell them that in order to measure growth on this, though, they are going to take a pre-test
to show the teacher how much they already know.
5. Distribute pre-test.
6. Allow them ten minutes to complete the ten citations (#1-10).
7. Collect the pre-tests, glancing for common errors among the group.
8. Quickly consider where their abilities are and gauge what the next activity earns more
discussion and thoroughness.
9. Ask the students what was difficult for them.
10. Go through each question on the pre-test as a whole class by talking about how to identify
it, then how to cite it. *Recommend them to pay very close attention because they are
going to be playing a game with the information later today, and then taking a post-test.
The winning group in the activity will get a bonus point added to their grades.*
11. Show them that when an author is unknown, they use the article title to cite it instead. (# 2
on pre-test)
12. However, when you have the same title for two articles, you must also include more
information on the source, such as an encyclopedia name, website name, etc. (# 2 & #3 on
pre-test)
13. Write all the correct forms on the board for them to copy down into their notes.
14. Demonstrate how to cite a source with multiple authors (2-3 authors is different than 4 or
more)* (#4 & 5 on pre-test)
15. Show how to shorten citations for long article titles to only 2-3 words. (#8 on pre-test)
16. Accentuate the importance of periods!
17. Write one of the activities parenthetical citations on the board, but with one error. Ask the
students what they would change to make it correct (Bloom: Application).
18. Tell the students they are going to play a game/activity to practice parenthetical citations.
Remind them that the winning group wins points.
19. Break the class into three groups randomly.
20. Have them get into their groups.
21. Read through these instructions:
I will pass out a piece of blank paper to each group. Write everyone’s
name on the paper in the upper right hand corner. Then number the
paper 1-10 being sure to leave space between each one. In a minute I will
tape a works cited citation onto the board. In your groups you will
collaborate to write the parenthetical citation on your paper correctly. You
are racing to beat the other two groups. But, all parts of the citation must be
exactly right. If it is any way incorrect, I will not accept it as the right
answer. The first group to answer it correctly has a runner race to the board
and pick up the single flyswatter and slap the submit button on the
chalk/white board. Then the teacher will take their sheet and check their
answer. If they are correct, they get two points. If they are incorrect, they
receive no points and they return to try and correct it. The other two
groups may continue working it out and when they are done, they may race
to the board to submit their answer. After a group gets the correct answer,
the other two groups may hurry to answer the same question. If they at
least answer correctly, they receive one point. If there is a tie to the
flyswatter, the teacher will have a tie breaker grammar question to which the
first answerer gets to submit their citation first. At the end of the activity,
the group with the most points gets the bonus point added to their grade.
22. Play the game! (MI: Interpersonal) (MI: Bodily-Kinesthetic)
23. After the game is completed, have everyone hand in their paper with their answers and
names, and then have them return to their seats.
24. Ask if there are any questions and review if they ask. (Tell them they are going to take a
post-test that is just like the pre-test, but with different sources… Ask again if they have any
questions)
25. Pass out the post-test. Give them ten minutes to complete it.
26. Collect the post-test.
Closure:
Ask the students if they feel more comfortable with their research papers now that they know what
plagiarism is and how to properly give credit as to avoid it. Ask them if learning how to correctly
credit our sources is worth avoiding punishment for plagiarisms based on the time and difficulty of
the task (Bloom: Evaluation). Ask if there are any questions. Tell them “Tomorrow we will be
going to the library to begin our research process. Have a great day”
Adaptations/Enrichments:
Arranging the groups so that students with a learning disability are nearer to those who can help
them focus their attention during the game will help them to maintain attention at the proper area.
During the pre-test and post-test, students with a learning disability may benefit from a “quiet area”
of the room.
The daily schedule on the board will help students with a learning disability to have an agenda to
follow.
Students with ADHD will benefit from being the runner in the groups, so they can get some
positive energy out while racing to the board safely.
Self Reflection:
Did the students become interested after my introduction?
Did the students understand my lesson?
How did my students react: facial expressions, yawns, eyes, body language?
Would I do this activity again?
Would I do anything differently if I were to do it again?
Activity Examples
*Write/Type each of these on an individual large piece of computer paper. Then, for each
source, write the correct parenthetical citation for the source on one large index card and incorrect
parenthetical citations on two more index cards.*
The New Jerusalem Bible. Henry Wansbrough, gen.ed. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print.
Neruda, Pablo, John Smith, Harold Binyon, and Mike Snow. Canto General. Trans. Jack Schmitt.
Berkeley: U of California P, 1991. Print. Latin Amer. Lit. and Culture 7.
“Ginsburg, Ruth Bader.” Who’s Who in America. 62nd ed. 2008. Print.
United States. Cong, House. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Al-Qaeda: The Many
Faces of an Islamist Extremist Threat. 109 Cong., 2 sess. H. Rept. 615. Washington:
th
nd
GPO, 2006. Print.
Weintraub, Arlene, Laura Cohen and Jon Say “A Thousand-Year Plan for Nuclear Waste.”
Business Week 6 May 2002: 94-96. Print.
Miller, Steven, and Sara Guyer, eds. Literature and the Right to Marriage. Spec. issue of Diacritics
35.4 (2005): 1-124. Project Muse. Web. 5 June 2008.
Fallon, L. Fleming, Jr. “Critical Care.” Magill’s Medical Guide, 4th rev. ed. Pasadena:
Salem Press, 2008. n. pag. Salem Health. Web. 24 Aug. 2009.
“de Kooning, Willem.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008.
15 May 2008.
“The Great Soap Opera.” Consumer Reports Jul. 2003: 413-414. Print.
Zuckerman, Mortimer B. “Welcome to Communicopia.” Editorial. U.S. News and
World Report 1 Nov. 2003: 116. Print.
Web.