W.9-10.8: Advanced Searches, Useful Sources and MLA Citation
In plain English: W.9-10.8 is the Common Core ELA standard that asks students in grades 9 and 10 to gather information from several authoritative print and digital sources with advanced searches, judge how useful each source is for the research question, and work the information into their writing selectively, without plagiarism and with a standard citation format.
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Writing Standards · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge · Official standard
Students follow one research paper from a weak first search to a cited paragraph. Imani, an invented tenth grader, wants to know whether energy drinks are a safe way for high school athletes to get energy before practice. Her first search returns stores and ads. With the librarian's help she uses quotation marks, site: and a library database with AND and OR, and finds three real, authoritative sources: a U.S. Food and Drug Administration page on caffeine, a clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics in the journal Pediatrics, and a National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health page on energy drinks. She also finds a print source, the label on a can, and three sources that turn out not to be useful for her question.
The lesson separates the four jobs in W.9-10.8: searching well, judging how useful each source is for the research question, using only the information that serves the paragraph, and citing it in MLA style without plagiarism. Students rebuild searches, rate sources for two different questions, repair patchwritten sentences, and for homework work through a swim team's question about a river after heavy rain.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Gather relevant information from several authoritative print and digital sources for one research question
Write advanced searches with quotation marks, the minus sign, site: and database AND, OR and NOT, and explain what each operator does
Assess how useful each source is for answering a specific research question, separating usefulness from topic and from general quality
Integrate selected information into a paragraph with signal phrases so the ideas flow, avoiding plagiarism, including patchwriting
Cite sources in MLA style, with in-text citations and a correctly ordered Works Cited list
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Gathering information from print and digital sources and judging credibility and accuracy W.8.8
Quoting and paraphrasing while avoiding plagiarism W.8.8
Writing a focused research question W.9-10.7
Writing informative paragraphs with a clear controlling idea W.9-10.2
"You need a trustworthy answer to a health question by tomorrow. Write the exact words you would type into a search engine. Then predict: who made the first five results, and why did they make them?"
Take four or five searches from volunteers and write them on the board. Most will be two or three plain words. Ask who is likely to have made the top results (companies, stores, news sites, government agencies, people posting opinions) and whether each one wants to inform, to sell or to persuade.
Introduce the research this lesson follows. Imani, an invented tenth grader, is writing a research paper for Mr. Okafor's English class after watching teammates drink energy drinks before soccer practice. Imani, her teacher Mr. Okafor, her school, her team, the librarian Ms. Ferreira and the brand Rallyhawk Energy are invented. Sources A, B and C are real publications, and her notes quote them accurately; Sources D, E and F are invented. Read Text 1 aloud and ask: why did Search 2 work better than Search 1?
1Assignment from Mr. Okafor: a research paper of 900-1,200 words that answers one research question. It must use at least four authoritative sources, at least one of them in print, and end with a Works Cited page in MLA format. My research question: Are energy drinks a safe way for high school athletes to get more energy before practice?
2Why I chose it: Before soccer practice last Tuesday, three teammates drank a can of energy drink in the parking lot. During sprints, one of them, Keisha, said her heart was pounding. Coach Dunn said he would ask the athletic director whether the team needs a rule.
3Search 1: I typed energy drinks into a search engine. The first page was almost all companies: two brand websites, a store selling 24-packs, an ad, and a list called "The 10 Best Energy Drinks for Your Workout." None of them answered my question, and every one of them was selling something.
4I asked Ms. Ferreira, the school librarian, for help. She showed me four tools. Quotation marks around a phrase ask for those words together, in that order. A minus sign typed right before a word, with no space, leaves out pages that contain that word. Typing site: followed by a domain, such as site:.gov, limits the results to that kind of site. And the library's article database lets me join terms with AND, OR and NOT and check a box for peer-reviewed journals.
5Search 2: "energy drinks" teens site:.gov. Now the top results were government health pages, including one from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Source A) and one from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (Source C).
6Search 3, in the library database: "energy drinks" AND (adolescents OR teens) AND caffeine, with the peer-reviewed box checked. This found a clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics in the journal Pediatrics (Source B).
7Search 4: "energy drinks" athletes -alcohol. I wanted to skip pages about mixing energy drinks with alcohol. Ms. Ferreira pointed out that the minus sign drops every page that mentions alcohol anywhere, even a useful page that discusses it in one paragraph. Source C is one of those pages. I went back to Search 2.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 1: Imani's research log, Day 1 (Imani, Mr. Okafor, her school, her team, Keisha, Coach Dunn and Ms. Ferreira are invented; the search results she describes are invented for this lesson). Original passage written for this page.
Direct Instruction20 minutes
Break W.9-10.8 into the four jobs it names, using Imani's project:
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources. An authoritative source is written or published by people with real expertise and responsibility for accuracy, such as a government health agency or a medical journal. Imani needs several, and at least one in print.
Use advanced searches effectively. Diagram 1 shows the operators Ms. Ferreira taught: quotation marks, the minus sign, site:, and AND, OR and NOT in a library database. Most search engines accept these, but details vary, so check the engine's help page.
Assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question. Usefulness is not the same as quality. A good source can still be useless for a particular question.
Integrate information selectively, avoid plagiarism and follow a standard citation format. Use only what serves the paragraph's point, put every borrowed idea in your own words or in quotation marks, and cite it. This lesson uses MLA style (9th edition); Diagram 2 shows its core elements.
Read Texts 2 and 3, Imani's notes on the real sources and on the label of the can Keisha drank. Then work through the examples below.
1Source A: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?" (web page, content current as of August 28, 2024). For most adults, the FDA cites 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, about two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee, as an amount not generally associated with negative effects. For children and teens, the page says medical experts advise against energy drinks because of their sugar and caffeine, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It lists what too much caffeine can do to children and teens: increased heart rate, heart palpitations, high blood pressure and anxiety, as well as sleep problems, digestive problems and dehydration. Energy drinks generally have 54 to 328 milligrams of caffeine per 16 fluid ounces. The FDA has no regulation specific to energy drinks.
2My usefulness note on A: Very useful. It comes from a federal agency, it was updated in 2024, and it speaks directly about teens. One caution: the 400-milligram figure is for adults, so it does not tell me how much is safe for a 15-year-old.
3Source B: Marcie Beth Schneider, Holly J. Benjamin, and the Committee on Nutrition and the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, "Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?" Pediatrics, June 2011. This is a clinical report of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a professional group of children's doctors. It says sports drinks and energy drinks are "significantly different products, and the terms should not be used interchangeably." Its conclusion is that the caffeine and other stimulants in energy drinks "have no place in the diet of children and adolescents." It says that the right use of sports drinks by young athletes in endurance or high-intensity sports is beyond the scope of the report.
4My usefulness note on B: Very useful for my main question, because pediatric experts wrote it about exactly my age group after reviewing the research. It is from 2011, but Source A shows that the FDA was still passing along the Academy's advice against energy drinks for teens in 2024. It sets aside how young athletes in endurance or high-intensity sports should use sports drinks, which several teammates mix up with energy drinks.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 2: Imani's notes on Sources A and B (the notes are written for this page; the facts and quotations are from the two sources named). Original passage written for this page.
1Source C: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, "Energy Drinks" (web page, last updated July 2018). It says "almost one-third of teens between 12 and 17 years drink them regularly," and that energy drink-related visits to emergency departments doubled between 2007 and 2011. On sports performance: "In several studies, energy drinks have been found to improve physical endurance, but there's less evidence of any effect on muscle strength or power." They may sharpen alertness and reaction time, "but they may also reduce steadiness of the hands." Caffeine "may harm children's still-developing cardiovascular and nervous systems." It gives 70 to 240 milligrams of caffeine in a 16-ounce drink.
2My usefulness note on C: Useful, because it is the only source so far that talks about athletic performance, which is what my teammates care about. But it was last updated in 2018, and its caffeine range is lower than the FDA's 2024 range. For amounts, I will use the newer FDA figures.
3Print source, the can: I bought one 16-ounce can of Rallyhawk Energy, the drink Keisha had. The label printed on the can lists 300 milligrams of caffeine and 57 grams of added sugar, and it says: "Not recommended for children, pregnant or nursing women, or people sensitive to caffeine."
4My usefulness note on the label: Useful as a primary source, because it shows what one drink sold near our school really contains. Its 300 milligrams is above the top of Source C's 2018 range but inside the FDA's 2024 range, one more reason to use the current source. Ms. Ferreira told me that in MLA style a product label is usually described in the sentence itself instead of getting its own Works Cited entry.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 3: Imani's notes on Source C and on a can label (the notes are written for this page; the facts and quotations in Source C are from the NCCIH page; the drink, its label and its company are invented). Original passage written for this page.
Turning a basic search into an advanced one
Search 1, energy drinks, returns brand sites, a store and an ad (Text 1, paragraph 3). Search 2 is "energy drinks" teens site:.gov (paragraph 5).
Result: The quotation marks keep the phrase together, teens adds the group the question is about, and site:.gov limits results to U.S. government sites. Each change answers a problem with Search 1: too general, not about teens, and full of sellers.
Seeing when an operator backfires
Search 4 adds -alcohol to skip pages about mixing energy drinks with alcohol (Text 1, paragraph 7).
Result: The minus sign excludes any page that contains the word, not just pages mainly about it. Source C mentions alcohol, so Search 4 would hide one of Imani's best sources. Exclude a word only when almost no useful page would contain it.
Judging usefulness, not just quality
Source A gives 400 milligrams a day as an amount not generally linked to negative effects (Text 2, paragraph 1). Imani notes the figure is for adults (paragraph 2).
Result: The source is authoritative and current, but this particular fact does not answer a question about 15-year-olds. She keeps the source for what it says about teens and sets the adult figure aside.
Comparing an older source with a newer one
Source C (2018) gives 70 to 240 milligrams per 16-ounce drink; the FDA (2024) gives 54 to 328. The can lists 300 milligrams (Text 3, paragraphs 1-3).
Result: The label falls outside the older range and inside the newer one, so Imani uses the 2024 figures for amounts. She still uses Source C for performance, which the newer page does not cover.
Building an MLA Works Cited entry
Source A is a web page. Its author and its publisher are both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the page is dated August 28, 2024.
Result: When an organization is both author and publisher, MLA starts with the title: "Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?" Then the website title in italics, the date as 28 Aug. 2024, and the URL without https://. Because the website title and publisher match, the publisher is not repeated.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Pairs read Text 4, three more sources Imani found. Then they fill in the usefulness table below for all six sources. The last column must answer one question only: does this source help answer Imani's research question, and how much?
1Source D: "Athlete FAQ," on the Rallyhawk Energy company website. No author, no date and no sources listed. It says: "Rallyhawk gives athletes of every age the edge they need, from the first whistle to the final buzzer."
2My note on D: It is about my topic, but it is not useful for answering my question. The company sells the drink, it gives no evidence, and "every age" contradicts the warning printed on its own can.
3Source E: A post on a sports-parents forum by a user named GoalieDad22, 2025: "My daughter has two energy drinks every game day and she's fine. People worry too much."
4My note on E: One family's story, from someone I cannot identify or check. It shows what some parents believe, but it cannot tell me whether the drinks are safe for athletes in general.
5Source F: Fueling the Young Athlete, a printed paperback in our school library, published in 2004. It has a strong chapter on water and sports drinks, but it never mentions energy drinks.
6My note on F: It is in print and was professionally published, but it does not address my question. Its chapter on water might help if I add a section on what athletes should drink instead.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 4: Three more sources Imani found, with her notes (all three sources are invented for this lesson). Original passage written for this page.
Usefulness table (pairs fill in the blank cells)
Source
Print or digital?
Who made it, and why?
How current?
Does it help answer the research question?
A: FDA caffeine page
B: AAP clinical report
C: NCCIH energy drinks page
Can label
D: company FAQ
E: forum post
F: 2004 paperback
Discuss: (1) Two of Imani's sources are in print. Is one of them useful and the other not? Why? (2) Source D and Source A are both about energy drinks. What makes one useful and the other not, for this question?
Independent Practice15 minutes
Read Text 5, Imani's first draft of a body paragraph, and Text 6, her revision. For each numbered sentence in Text 5, students write what happened to it in Text 6: kept and cited, rewritten in her own words, cut, or replaced. Then they label each problem in Text 5 with one of these codes: NS (no source given), PW (patchwriting: the source's wording with a few words swapped), DQ (dropped quotation: a quotation with no introduction or citation), DUMP (information that does not serve the point) or WEAK (a source too weak for the claim).
The quiz uses Texts 1-6 (Warm-Up, Direct Instruction, Guided Practice and this phase). Point students back to them when they take it.
1[1] Energy drinks are very popular with teenagers. [2] Too much caffeine in kids and teenagers can cause a faster heart rate, heart palpitations, high blood pressure and anxiety, and lead to sleep problems, digestive problems and dehydration ("Spilling the Beans"). [3] "In several studies, energy drinks have been found to improve physical endurance, but there's less evidence of any effect on muscle strength or power." [4] Energy drinks have 54 to 328 milligrams of caffeine per 16 fluid ounces, a few have 41 to 246 milligrams per 12 fluid ounces, decaf coffee has 2 to 15 milligrams, green tea has 37 milligrams and black tea has 71 milligrams. [5] One parent says his daughter has two energy drinks every game day and she's fine. [6] Caffeine may harm children's still-developing cardiovascular and nervous systems.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 5: Imani's first draft of one body paragraph (written for this page; sentences are numbered in brackets for discussion). Original passage written for this page.
1Many teenagers treat energy drinks as ordinary fuel before a game. A National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health page reports that "almost one-third of teens between 12 and 17 years drink them regularly" ("Energy Drinks"). Pediatric experts, however, reject the habit. A clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that the caffeine and other stimulants in energy drinks "have no place in the diet of children and adolescents" (Schneider et al. 1182), and the FDA's 2024 page on caffeine still passes along the Academy's advice against energy drinks for teens ("Spilling the Beans"). For an athlete, the risk is concrete. The FDA lists a faster heart rate, a pounding heartbeat and higher blood pressure among the effects of too much caffeine in young people ("Spilling the Beans"), which may explain why a teammate felt her heart pounding during sprints after drinking a 16-ounce can of Rallyhawk Energy, whose label lists 300 milligrams of caffeine. Some studies do find better endurance, but the evidence for strength or power is weaker, and the drinks "may also reduce steadiness of the hands" ("Energy Drinks"), a poor trade for a goalkeeper.
2Works Cited
3"Energy Drinks." National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, July 2018, www.nccih.nih.gov/health/energy-drinks.
4Schneider, Marcie Beth, et al. "Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?" Pediatrics, vol. 127, no. 6, June 2011, pp. 1182-89, https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-0965.
5"Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?" U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 28 Aug. 2024, www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/spilling-beans-how-much-caffeine-too-much.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 6: Imani's revised paragraph and her Works Cited page (written for this page; the quotations are from Sources A-C). Original passage written for this page.
Closure5 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Write one advanced search for your own research question and name what each operator does. (2) In one sentence, explain the difference between a source that is authoritative and a source that is useful for your question.
Hand out the homework texts below: Dev's research log (Text 7) and his source list (Text 8). Dev, his team, the Harlow River, Marlow County and all six of his sources are invented for practice.
Teacher note: Rallyhawk Energy and its label are invented. Real energy drinks vary widely in caffeine, and the FDA's 54-328 milligram range per 16 fluid ounces is the figure students should cite.
1Research question: Is it safe for our swim team to hold open-water practice in the Harlow River during the two days after a heavy rain?
2Search 1: river swimming. The results were vacation guides, a video of people jumping off a bridge in another state, and a store selling swimsuits.
3Search 2: harlow river bacteria rain -fishing. I added the minus sign because I kept getting pages about trout. Only a few results came up, and the county's water-testing page was not one of them. A classmate found that page later by searching the county's own website. It includes a note about fishing advisories.
4A sentence from my notes, for my draft: Heavy rain washes bacteria from streets, farms and sewers into rivers, and levels can stay high for a day or two afterward.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 7: Homework, Dev's research log (Dev, his swim team, the Harlow River and Marlow County are invented). Original passage written for this page.
1Source 1: Marlow County Department of Public Health, "River and Beach Water Testing," web page, updated every Monday from June to September; last update September 21, 2026. It posts weekly E. coli results for five sites on the Harlow River and flags any sample above the county's safety level. It says: "After heavy rain, bacteria levels at river sites often rise. The county advises waiting at least 48 hours after heavy rain before swimming."
2Source 2: State Department of Environmental Quality, "Swimming After a Storm," two-page fact sheet, 2024. It says: "Heavy rain washes bacteria from streets, farms and sewers into rivers, and levels can stay high for a day or two afterward."
3Source 3: Janet Cole, "Volunteers Pull Two Tons of Trash from Harlow River," Marlow Herald, printed newspaper, April 12, 2011, page A3. It describes a cleanup day and quotes volunteers about tires and shopping carts.
4Source 4: "Our River Is Always Clean!", an undated blog post by Harlow River Kayak Rentals. No author and no data.
5Source 5: Hana Sato and Marcus Webb, "Storm Runoff and Bacteria at Three River Swimming Sites," Journal of Freshwater Health, vol. 9, no. 2, 2025, pages 41-57, a peer-reviewed journal Dev read in print at the public library. At three Harlow River sites sampled over two summers, E. coli counts rose after every rain of more than one inch. At two sites the counts fell back to normal within 48 hours; at the third, just below a storm drain, they stayed high for up to 72 hours.
6Source 6: A swim-team parent's social media post, August 2026: "Swam there the day after the big storm last year, totally fine!"
SVHS lesson authors, Text 8: Homework, Dev's source list (all six sources and everyone in them are invented for practice). Original passage written for this page.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give an operator card with one example each: "exact phrase", -word, site:.gov, and (word OR word) AND word
Fill in the Source A row of the usefulness table as a model before pairs start
Offer signal-phrase frames: "According to ___," "A report from ___ concludes that ___" and "___ warns that ___"
For Advanced Students
Find the page the FDA cites for the Academy's advice and decide whether it would be more useful to Imani than Source A
Write a paragraph for Imani's paper on what athletes should drink instead, using Source F and one new authoritative source
Rewrite one Works Cited entry in APA style and list every difference from the MLA version
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Look for searches that name the key phrase, the group or place the question is about and a way to reach authoritative sites, with each operator explained correctly. In judging sources, strong work separates three ideas: a source can be on the topic without answering the question, authoritative without being current, and in print without being useful. In paragraphs, look for information chosen to support one point, signal phrases that introduce each source, quotations that are marked and cited, paraphrases that change both the words and the sentence structure, and MLA citations that match the Works Cited entries.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Search Lab: Rebuild the Search
20 minPairs
Pairs repair six weak searches with advanced operators, run the old and new versions, and compare who made the top five results. The lab turns the operators in Diagram 1 into a habit and shows when each one helps.
The Six Weak Searches
Search 1: sleep teenagers (question: How much sleep do high school students need?)
Search 2: bees (question: Why are honeybee colonies in the United States dying off?)
Search 3: python (question: What do invasive pythons eat in the Florida Everglades?)
Search 4: minimum wage history (question: When did the federal minimum wage begin?)
Search 5: concussion football (question: What do medical groups recommend after a youth sports concussion?)
Search 6: lead water schools (question: How do schools test drinking water for lead?)
Procedure
For each search, write a better version that uses at least two tools: quotation marks, the minus sign, site:, or AND, OR and NOT in the library database
Run the weak and the improved search, if devices are available, and record who made each of the top five results (government, university, news, company, individual)
Circle one case where an operator made the results worse, and explain why
Sample Repairs (for the teacher)
Search 2: "honeybee colonies" losses site:.edu. Search 3: pythons Everglades diet -programming, because the word python also names a programming language. Search 5: "youth sports" concussion guidelines site:.gov OR site:.org. Accept any repair whose operators fit the question; the weak searches have many good fixes.
Discussion Questions
Which operator changed your results the most? Did it change who made the results or only what they were about?
When would site:.gov hide a source you need? Name a kind of authoritative source that is not on a government site.
Why does a minus sign need more care than quotation marks?
Modification for Classrooms Without Devices
Give each pair two printed lists of ten invented search results, one for a weak search and one for an improved search, and ask them to sort each result by who made it. Pairs then predict which operators produced the second list.
2
Useful for Which Question? Source Card Sort
20 minGroups of 3-4
Groups rate the same eight source cards twice, once for each of two research questions. The sort shows that usefulness depends on the research question, not only on the source.
The Two Research Questions
Question 1: How loud is too loud when listening through earbuds?
Question 2: How do students at our school actually use earbuds during the day?
The Eight Source Cards (all invented for practice)
Card 1: A government hearing-health institute's web page on noise and hearing loss, updated last year
Card 2: A survey of 200 students at our school about when and how long they wear earbuds, run by the student council this fall
Card 3: An earbud maker's product page that calls its volume limiter "doctor approved" without naming a doctor
Card 4: A peer-reviewed study of hearing in 1,500 teenagers, published in an audiology journal
Card 5: A printed encyclopedia article on the human ear from 1995
Card 6: An interview with our school nurse about students who come to her office with ear pain
Card 7: A video by a popular reviewer comparing the sound quality of ten earbud models
Card 8: A news article about a city that set noise limits for concerts
Procedure
For each card, rate it Very useful, Somewhat useful or Not useful for Question 1, with one reason
Rate the same card again for Question 2, with one reason
Circle every card whose rating changed, and explain what changed it
Sort Key (for the teacher)
For Question 1, Cards 1 and 4 are very useful; Cards 5, 6 and 8 are somewhat useful at best; Cards 2, 3 and 7 are not useful. For Question 2, Cards 2 and 6 are very useful, and Cards 3, 5 and 7 are not useful. Accept well-reasoned differences: Card 5 explains how the ear works but is old, and Card 8 is about concerts, not earbuds.
Discussion Questions
Which card was very useful for one question and not useful for the other?
Card 2 is not published or peer-reviewed. Why can it still be the best source for Question 2?
Which card is on the topic of both questions but useful for neither?
3
Quote, Paraphrase or Patchwrite? Integration Workshop
20 minPairs, then individual
Pairs judge four student versions of one passage, then each student writes a sentence that integrates the passage smoothly with a signal phrase and an MLA citation.
The Source Passage (invented for practice)
From Dana Whitfield, "Heat and the High School Athlete," page 14: "Athletes who practice in the first two weeks of August face the greatest risk of heat illness, because their bodies have not yet adjusted to the heat. Coaches can lower that risk by adding practice time slowly over the first 14 days."
Four Student Versions
Version 1: Athletes who practice in the first two weeks of August face the greatest risk of heat illness, because their bodies have not adjusted to the heat yet.
Version 2: Players practicing in the first two weeks of August have the highest risk of heat illness, since their bodies have not yet gotten used to the heat (Whitfield 14).
Version 3: Whitfield explains that early-August practices are riskiest because athletes' bodies have not yet adapted, and she recommends lengthening practices gradually over two weeks (14).
Version 4: According to Whitfield, athletes in early August "face the greatest risk of heat illness, because their bodies have not yet adjusted to the heat" (14).
Key (for the teacher)
Version 1 copies the words without quotation marks or a citation: plagiarism. Version 2 is patchwriting: it keeps the source's sentence structure and swaps a few words, so it is plagiarism even with a citation. Version 3 is a real paraphrase with a signal phrase and a page citation. Version 4 is a correctly integrated quotation.
Procedure
Pairs label each version and write one sentence explaining each label
Each student writes one new sentence that uses Whitfield's recommendation to support this claim: "Our team's August schedule should change."
Partners check each other's sentence for a signal phrase, a page citation and wording that is not the source's
Discussion Questions
Why is Version 2 plagiarism, even though it gives a citation?
When is quoting (Version 4) a better choice than paraphrasing (Version 3)?
Which version would fit most smoothly into a paragraph about planning practice schedules, and why?
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Reading an Advanced Search, Operator by Operator
Three of Imani's searches from Text 1, split into their parts. Quotation marks keep a phrase together, site:.gov limits results to U.S. government sites, AND requires both terms, OR accepts either word, and a minus sign typed directly before a word removes every page that contains it. The red box marks the search that would have hidden Source C.
Diagram 2: The Parts of an MLA Works Cited Entry
The journal article from Text 2 laid out as MLA core elements, in order: author, title of the source in quotation marks, the container (the journal, in italics), number, date and location (page range and DOI). Three or more authors are shortened to the first author and "et al." The in-text citation matches the first word of the entry.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
W.9-10.8 Homework: Search, Judge and Cite for Dev's River Question
Directions: Use Texts 7 and 8 in the Closure section of the lesson plan. Dev is writing a research paper for the same class as Imani. His sources are invented for practice, so use only the facts given in Text 8, and cite the source number for each fact.
Part 1: Search Better (Problems 1-2)
Explain why Dev's Search 2 (Text 7, paragraph 3) missed the county's water-testing page. Then write two improved searches for his research question, each using at least two of these: quotation marks, the minus sign and site:. Explain what each operator does in your search.
Write one search for a library article database that uses AND and OR (with parentheses), and name one filter or checkbox you would use. Say which of Dev's sources this search is most likely to find.
Part 2: Judge Usefulness (Problems 3-4)
Rate each of Dev's six sources Very useful, Somewhat useful or Not useful for his research question, with one reason each. At least one reason must be about the date and one about who made the source.
Sources 1 and 5 do not give the same waiting time after heavy rain. Explain the difference, and write two or three sentences telling Dev how to use both sources without hiding the disagreement.
Part 3: Integrate and Cite (Problems 5-6)
The sentence in Dev's notes (Text 7, paragraph 4) matches Source 2 word for word. Explain why using it as written would be plagiarism, then rewrite it twice: once as a correctly integrated quotation and once as a true paraphrase. Both need an MLA in-text citation.
Write a paragraph of 100-150 words that answers Dev's research question, using at least three sources selectively, with signal phrases and MLA in-text citations. Then write the MLA Works Cited entries for every source you used, in the correct order.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Advanced searching
Searches fit the question; every operator is used and explained correctly; the minus-sign problem is identified
Searches improve but one operator is misused or unexplained
Searches are plain keywords, or the explanations are wrong
Judging usefulness
Every rating is tied to the research question, with date and authorship considered; the disagreement is explained and handled openly
Most ratings reasonable, but some judge topic or format instead of usefulness
Ratings missing or unsupported
Integration and plagiarism
Paragraph uses selected facts with signal phrases; quotation marked; paraphrase changes words and structure
Sources used but strung together, or one paraphrase too close to the source
Copied or patchwritten wording, or sources not identified
MLA citation
In-text citations and Works Cited entries follow MLA, match each other and are in alphabetical order
Minor errors in punctuation, italics or order
Citations missing, or a different format mixed in
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
The questions use Texts 1-6 in the lesson plan: Imani's search log (Warm-Up), her notes on Sources A-C and the can label (Direct Instruction), Sources D-F (Guided Practice), and her first and revised paragraphs (Independent Practice). Paragraph numbers match the numbers beside each text. Questions 4, 12, 15 and 18 use new situations. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 1, paragraph 3, why was Search 1 not useful for Imani's research question?
Answer: C
Imani writes that the first page was "almost all companies" and that "every one of them was selling something"; none answered her question. A is wrong: the page was full of results, just not useful ones. B and D describe the wrong kind of results; government pages appeared only in Search 2.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student wants pages that contain the exact phrase school lunch and come only from college and university sites ending in .edu. Which search asks for that?
Answer: A
Quotation marks keep the two words together in order, and site:.edu limits results to .edu domains. B has no quotation marks and uses a minus sign, which removes pages containing "edu" instead of requiring university sites. C reverses the goal: the minus sign in front of site: excludes .edu sites. D uses OR, which accepts pages with either word alone, so the phrase is lost.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Text 1, paragraph 7, what was the problem with Search 4, "energy drinks" athletes -alcohol?
Answer: D
Ms. Ferreira points out that "the minus sign drops every page that mentions alcohol anywhere," and Source C is one of those pages. A misreads quotation marks, which match a phrase, not an author. B invents a rule; plain words and phrases combine freely. C is false: the minus sign is a search engine tool in her explanation.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student researching mercury levels in tuna keeps getting pages about the planet Mercury. Which change to the search mercury tuna fixes the problem most directly?
Answer: B
The minus sign before planet removes pages that contain that word, which clears out astronomy pages while keeping the two needed terms. A widens the search, so pages with only one word come back. C requires the phrase "mercury planet," which pulls in exactly the pages the student wants to avoid. D removes tuna, the student's actual subject.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Search 3, "energy drinks" AND (adolescents OR teens) AND caffeine, what does the part in parentheses do?
Answer: C
OR accepts either term, and the parentheses group the two so the AND terms apply to the pair. Researchers often write adolescents, while other sources say teens, so the OR catches both. A describes AND, not OR. B describes NOT. D confuses the subject of an article with its audience.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 2, paragraph 2, why does Imani say the FDA's 400-milligram figure does not answer her question?
Answer: B
She writes that "the 400-milligram figure is for adults, so it does not tell me how much is safe for a 15-year-old." A is wrong: the page was current as of 2024. C is wrong: Source A discusses energy drinks for teens. D is wrong: the figure comes from the FDA, a federal agency.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Imani's notes in Text 2, what makes Source B useful for her main question?
Answer: D
Her note says "pediatric experts wrote it about exactly my age group after reviewing the research." A is false: it is from 2011, older than Sources A and C. B confuses it with Source C, which discusses endurance and power. C invents a figure the report does not give; its conclusion is that energy drinks have no place in young people's diets.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
The can label lists 300 milligrams of caffeine in 16 ounces (Text 3, paragraph 3). Why does this lead Imani to use the FDA's range for amounts instead of Source C's?
Answer: A
Source C gives 70 to 240 milligrams per 16-ounce drink, and the FDA gives 54 to 328, so 300 falls outside the older range and inside the newer one (Text 3, paragraph 4). B and C misread the ranges: 300 is above 240, not inside it or below it. D is false arithmetic: 300 is less than 400.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Why is Source D, the Rallyhawk "Athlete FAQ," not useful for answering Imani's research question (Text 4)?
Answer: C
Imani's note says the company "sells the drink, it gives no evidence, and 'every age' contradicts the warning printed on its own can." A is wrong: the page is undated, which is a problem, but not the reason she gives. B is wrong: it is a website. D is wrong: the FAQ is about Rallyhawk Energy, an energy drink.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
What does Source F, the 2004 paperback, show about print sources (Text 4, paragraphs 5-6)?
Answer: B
The book is professionally published, but it "never mentions energy drinks," so it does not answer Imani's question. Usefulness depends on the question, not the format. A overstates: the can label and the book are both print, and only one helps. C invents a rule. D is contradicted by the assignment, which asks for print and digital sources together.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Sentence 2 of Text 5 ends with a citation, ("Spilling the Beans"). Why is it still plagiarism?
Answer: D
The FDA's sentence reads "Too much caffeine in children and teens can cause increased heart rate, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, anxiety, and lead to sleep problems, digestive problems and dehydration." In sentence 2, "children and teens" became "kids and teenagers" and "increased" became "a faster," but the sentence frame, the list and its order are the source's. That is patchwriting, which counts as plagiarism even with a citation. A is wrong: MLA in-text citations do not include URLs. B is wrong: a specific list from one agency is not common knowledge. C is wrong: citation placement is not the problem.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A web page titled "Heat Illness in Young Athletes" was written and published by the Lakeside State Athletic Association on its website of the same name, on May 3, 2025, at www.lakesidesaa.org/heat. Which Works Cited entry follows MLA style? (The association is invented.)
Answer: A
When an organization is both author and publisher, MLA starts with the title, puts the page title in quotation marks and the website in italics, and gives the date as day, abbreviated month, year. Because the website title and publisher match, the publisher is not repeated. B repeats the organization three times. C italicizes the page title and uses a numeric date. D drops the quotation marks and italics and punctuates the elements incorrectly.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 6, why does Imani cite the NCCIH quotation as ("Energy Drinks") instead of with an author's last name?
Answer: C
The NCCIH is both author and publisher, so the Works Cited entry begins with the title, and the in-text citation uses that title, in quotation marks. A is wrong: Imani cites the journal article as (Schneider et al. 1182). B is wrong: no individual authors are named. D is wrong: MLA in-text citations do not use URLs.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Sentence 4 of Text 5 lists caffeine amounts for energy drinks, decaf coffee, green tea and black tea. Why did Imani cut the tea and coffee numbers from Text 6?
Answer: B
Integrating selectively means using only what supports the point. The paragraph is about energy drinks and athletes, so a list of tea and decaf amounts interrupts the flow. A is wrong: the FDA page gives those figures. C invents a rule. D is wrong: the figures come from the FDA page, not the forum.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Write two advanced searches for this research question: How does wildfire smoke affect students who practice sports outdoors? Each search must use at least two operators. Explain in one sentence what each operator does in your search.
Model answer: Search 1: "wildfire smoke" "outdoor sports" site:.gov. The quotation marks keep each phrase together, and site:.gov limits results to U.S. government sites such as health agencies. Search 2, in a library database: "wildfire smoke" AND (students OR adolescents) AND exercise, peer-reviewed only. AND requires every term, and OR accepts either word for the group. Rubric line: 2 points for two searches that fit the question with every operator explained correctly; 1 point if one operator is misused or unexplained; 0 for plain keywords.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Rank Imani's sources A, B, C, D, E and F from most to least useful for her research question. Explain your top choice and your bottom choice, citing Texts 2-4.
Model answer: B, A, C, F, E, D (A and B may be swapped). B is most useful because pediatric experts reviewed the research and concluded that energy drinks "have no place in the diet of children and adolescents" (Text 2, paragraph 3), which answers the question for Imani's age group. D is least useful: the company sells the drink, gives no evidence, and its claim of "every age" contradicts its own label (Text 4, paragraph 2). Rubric line: 2 points for a defensible ranking with both choices explained from the texts in terms of the research question; 1 point if only one is explained; 0 if reasons are about topic or format only.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Sentence 6 of Text 5 is copied from Source C without quotation marks or a citation. Rewrite it two ways: as an integrated quotation with a signal phrase, and as a paraphrase. Use MLA in-text citations.
Model answer: Quotation: The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health warns that caffeine "may harm children's still-developing cardiovascular and nervous systems" ("Energy Drinks"). Paraphrase: A federal health page warns that young people's hearts and nervous systems are still growing and that caffeine could damage them ("Energy Drinks"). Rubric line: 2 points for a marked, introduced quotation and a paraphrase that changes both words and structure, each with a correct citation; 1 point if one version is missing its citation or stays too close; 0 if either version keeps the source's words unmarked.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Write the MLA Works Cited entry for this print magazine article: Priya Raman, "Hydration Myths on the Sideline," in the magazine Coaching Today, volume 18, issue 3, March 2025, pages 22-25. (The author and the magazine are invented.)
Model answer: Raman, Priya. "Hydration Myths on the Sideline." Coaching Today, vol. 18, no. 3, Mar. 2025, pp. 22-25. The author is inverted, the article title goes in quotation marks, the magazine is italicized as the container, the month is abbreviated, and the entry ends with a period. Rubric line: 2 points for every element in MLA order with correct punctuation and italics; 1 point for one or two small errors; 0 if elements are missing or in another format.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Identify two ways Text 6 keeps the ideas flowing instead of listing facts. Quote a phrase from Text 6 for each.
Model answer: First, it introduces sources with signal phrases, so readers know who is speaking before the quotation: "A clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that..." Second, it uses transitions that show how ideas connect, such as "Pediatric experts, however, reject the habit" and "For an athlete, the risk is concrete." It also ties the sources to the local problem, the teammate who "felt her heart pounding during sprints." Rubric line: 2 points for two different techniques, each with an accurate quotation; 1 point for one; 0 if the answer only summarizes.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
A classmate says Imani should drop Source B because "a report from 2011 is too old to use." Respond using evidence from Text 2.
Model answer: Age alone does not make a source useless. Source B was written by pediatric experts about Imani's age group, and Source A, current as of 2024, shows the FDA still passing along the Academy's advice against energy drinks for teens (Text 2, paragraph 4). The report's conclusion is still current advice, so Imani can use it, while taking caffeine amounts from the newer FDA page. Rubric line: 2 points for a response that weighs the date against the evidence that the advice still stands; 1 point for a general defense without evidence; 0 if the answer agrees without reasons.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does W.9-10.8 mean?
W.9-10.8 means that students in grades 9 and 10 find information for their research in several authoritative print and digital sources, search skillfully, judge how useful each source is for their research question, and work the information into their writing smoothly, without plagiarism and with proper citations.
It is the gathering and citing half of research writing. W.9-10.7, its companion, covers planning and carrying out the whole project.
What counts as an advanced search in W.9-10.8?
An advanced search uses tools that control what comes back, instead of a few plain words.
Common tools are quotation marks for an exact phrase, a minus sign before a word to exclude it, site: to limit results to a domain such as .gov or .edu, and AND, OR and NOT in library databases, along with filters for date, format or peer review. Most search engines support these operators, but the details vary, so students should check the engine's help page. "Effectively" means choosing the tool that fixes a specific problem with the results.
What is the difference between a useful source and a credible source?
A credible source is trustworthy in general; a useful source helps answer your particular research question.
Grade 8 (W.8.8) asks students to assess credibility and accuracy. W.9-10.8 adds usefulness: a respected government page on adult caffeine limits is credible, but it is not very useful for a question about 15-year-olds. Students should ask both questions of every source.
Does W.9-10.8 require MLA style?
No. The standard asks for "a standard format for citation" and does not name one.
English classes often use MLA style, and science and social studies classes often use APA or Chicago. This lesson uses MLA (9th edition). What matters is that students follow one format consistently, with in-text citations that match the list of sources.
Is patchwriting plagiarism if the student cites the source?
Yes. Patchwriting keeps a source's sentence structure and most of its words while swapping a few, and it is treated as plagiarism even with a citation.
A citation credits the idea, but the wording must also be the student's own, or be in quotation marks. A good test: cover the source and write the idea from memory, then check that no string of the source's words survived.
Why does W.9-10.8 mention print sources when most research is online?
Because some authoritative information exists only in print or is easier to find there, such as books, printed journals, local newspapers, labels and documents.
Print is not automatically better. In this lesson, a published paperback turns out not to address the question, while the label printed on a can is useful evidence. Students judge print sources the same way they judge digital ones.
How many sources does W.9-10.8 require?
The standard says "multiple" sources and sets no number.
Teachers usually set a minimum, such as three to five for a short paper, and often require a mix of print and digital. The better test is whether the sources together answer the research question, and whether each one was chosen because it is useful, not just to reach a count.
How is W.9-10.8 different from W.11-12.8?
W.9-10.8 asks students to assess each source's usefulness in answering the research question; W.11-12.8 asks them to assess each source's strengths and limitations in terms of the task, purpose and audience.
W.11-12.8 also adds avoiding "over-reliance on any one source." The move is from asking "does this source help answer my question?" to asking "what can and can't this source do for this piece of writing and these readers?"
Can students use an online encyclopedia for W.9-10.8 research?
Usually as a starting point, not as a main source.
An online encyclopedia can give background and, more importantly, a list of the sources behind each article. Students should follow those citations to the original authoritative sources, read them and cite those instead. Teachers set the exact rule for their own class.
How do teachers assess W.9-10.8?
Usually with the research process and the product together: search logs, source notes and the final cited writing.
Useful evidence includes a search log that shows how searches were improved, notes that say why each source is or is not useful for the question, paragraphs that introduce and integrate sources smoothly, and citations that match a correct Works Cited list. Short tasks, like rewriting a patchwritten sentence or correcting an entry, check single skills quickly.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to W.9-10.8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
W.8.8Prerequisite
Gather print and digital sources, assess credibility, quote or paraphrase and cite
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
W.9-10.7Parallel
Conduct short and sustained research projects that synthesize multiple sources
