Georgia 8.T.RA.2.c

ELA8th GradeCurating Sources & Evidence

The Standard

Follow Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines when integrating textual evidence, clearly identifying and citing the ideas and information of others and ensuring each source is accompanied by a properly formatted entry on a works cited page. (C)

Georgia's K-12 English Language Arts Standards · Texts (T) · Research & Analysis

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do

Students use quotes and paraphrases in their own writing while clearly naming where the information came from. They add MLA in-text citations and matching entries on a Works Cited page.

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can introduce a quote or paraphrase, identify the source, and place the parenthetical citation correctly. Every cited source has an accurate, alphabetized Works Cited entry with MLA punctuation and formatting.

Common Misconceptions

Students may cite only direct quotes and forget that paraphrased ideas also need credit. They may put a URL in parentheses, place punctuation incorrectly, or include sources that do not match the Works Cited page.

How to Assess It

Give students a short article excerpt with publication details. Ask them to use one piece of evidence in a sentence, add an in-text citation, and write the matching Works Cited entry.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

  1. Give pairs source-detail cards to arrange into an MLA Works Cited entry, then match it to the correct parenthetical citation.

  2. Show two evidence paragraphs and ask students to write which one credits the source clearly, then defend their choice with two details.

  3. Run a citation error hunt where teams correct missing signal phrases, misplaced periods, mismatched author names, and incorrect Works Cited entries.

  4. Have students support a claim about a school rule using the student handbook, with one in-text citation and one Works Cited entry.

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