Internet Research (PDF)
Best Practice Guide for Teachers

Task Selection to Avoid Plagiarism

• Avoid tasks with ready made answers on the web.
• Choose tasks that require comparison, evaluation, decision making.
• Choose an output format that is hard to copy/paste directly: table, letter, poem, mind map.

Search Intelligently

• Think carefully about key words.
• Use ‘Advanced Search’ to focus search.

Be Selective

• Use a minimum of two reliable sources.
• Find sources at the right level (not too advanced or too simple).
• Think about the reliability of sources – author, site, motives, bias, checkable facts.
• Don’t rely too much on Wikipedia – anyone can contribute.

Avoid Plagiarism

• Include a bibliography (list of sources).
• Direct quotes in inverted commas.
• Use your own ‘voice’ (your own words and phrases).
• Include source url under pictures (small font).