Citation Puzzle Lesson Plan

Stage 1 Desired Results

ESTABLISHED GOALS/ Transfer
STANDARDS
Students will be able to independently use their learning in new situations to…
Framework for IL in HE: • Read and interpret a works cited entries in journals they read for professional or academic use
• Scholarship is a • Use bibliographies or works cited in key articles they find to identify and access further articles on the
Conversation topic
• Authority is • Recognize the way that one scholarly work is connected with other scholarly works in the field
Contextual and • Utilize tools such as Summon and Google Scholar to track citations and find new articles
Constructed

Meaning

UNDERSTANDINGS Students will understand that… ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: Students will explore & address
• Besides being ethical, properly citing sources these recurring questions:
helps future scholars understand where your • How do scholars communicate? How do I
scholarship fits in an ongoing conversation communicate back?
• Citation guidelines are not just arbitrary • Why do different fields establish rules and codes of
rules, but a common language that help practice in citation?
scholars communicate • How are citations useful in my own research?
• The references section of a research article
can be a rich source of additional resources

Acquisition

Students will know… Students will be skilled at…

• The different parts of an MLA citation
• Which resources to consult for MLA citations
• They have several options to access resources
they need while in school
• Creating basic work cited entries in MLA format (book,
journal article, etc.)
• Interpreting a works cited entry
• Finding and accessing a source based on an entry in
another works cited list
 Stage 2 - Evidence
Assessment Evidence
PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
• In pairs or small groups, students will be able to take disconnected parts (puzzle pieces) of a MLA citation for a book, article, book
chapter, and website and piece them together into the correct format, consulting outside resources as needed.
o Mastery: No errors in a single citation, easily uses resources to confirm citations
o Competent: 0-2 errors in a single citation, more reliant on citation resources
o Emerging: More than 2 errors in a single citation, dependent on outside resources
• Using the citations pieced together, students will be able to find a copy of the resource indicated or a reliable method of obtaining said
resource that is appropriate for the item (hold request, interlibrary loan)
o Mastery: Finds full-text copy of electronic item or finds correct location to make request in format fitting the situation
o Competent: Find citation of item in database/Google Scholar, can verbalize next steps
o Emerging: May be able to find citation, but unable to connect with resource
OTHER EVIDENCE:
• Pre-assessment: students can share what citation resources they have used in the past and which citation styles they are familiar with
• Verbal questioning throughout lesson
• Teacher observations on mood and attitude toward activity, resources consulted

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction (including pre- and formative assessments)

Materials to create: 
• Citation puzzles: pieces of MLA citations that are accessible through St. Catherine University Library, cut into pieces and stored in Ziploc
bags
• Short presentation/slide deck on MLA citations

Resources: 
• OWL at Purdue Website
• St. Catherine guides: printed and online
• MLA Handbook
• Several laptop computers from mobile cart
Learner pre-assessment (Who are they? What do they know?): 
• This module is part of a larger information literacy one-shot session for upper-level undergraduate students in a humanities class. These
students have been exposed to library research to some degree earlier in their education (TRW, etc.) and are preparing to write a major
research paper for an upper-level class or capstone project.
• Students will have varying understandings of citation styles, scholarly vs. popular articles, and database usage. This session is designed to
build on past exposure to library research (choosing keywords, filtering, Boolean) by introducing bibliography mining as a search strategy.
Summary of learning events & instruction (may be listed as separate lessons): 
This module would be preceded by an introductory discussion about citing. In an informal setting, students would be asked to share the
reasons why they have cited resources in the past. From here, the class would discuss reason why we should cite our sources (why do your
professors require this anyway?)
• Open with question: Why do we have citation style guidelines (like MLA, Chicago, APA)? Should we have them? Are they ever useful? 1-2
minutes
• Transition to PowerPoint or Prezi: 3 minutes
o Analogy: thinking of a citation like an address (show correctly addressed envelope and incorrectly addressed envelope, compare
with correct citation and incorrect citation). What happens when we don’t write down an address correctly? (use metaphor
throughout explanation)
o Basic parts of an MLA citation and how to differentiate between them
o Resources to consult: St. Kate’s Guides, OWL at Purdue
o Basic idea of bibliography mining: find one good article, use its bibliography to find more.
• Tracking down an item based on a citation (open demo on screen) 5 minutes
o Summon
o Google Scholar
o Introduce requesting items through CLICNet and ILL
• Citation Puzzle 8 minutes
o Break into pairs or groups of three
o Give each group a set of citation puzzle pieces and a computer
o Instruct the class to use the resources recommended earlier, St. Catherine’s MLA handout, and their own brains to piece together
the citation in the correct format (tape on wall? tape of piece of paper?). After they have pieced together their citation and had
it approved by the librarian, they should use any resources at their disposal to try to find the item in the citation.
o Librarian will have extra citation puzzles on hand in case any group finishes quickly
• Show and Tell 2 minutes
o Each group present their final citation to the class
o Share one thing that was challenging and one thing that went well with their citation
In an actual one-shot, the remaining part of the session would be dedicated for individual work. Students would be asked to use an article
they have for their research and practice using the bibliography to find additional sources for their paper. The librarian would rove around to
help and answer questions, as needed.