South Dakota ELA 11-12.W.8.d

ELAGrades 11–12Writing

The Standard

Avoid plagiarism and overreliance on one source. Follow a standard format for citation.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students use more than one source to build a written point. They put borrowed ideas in their own words, mark direct quotes, and cite both using a consistent format.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can write a paragraph that draws on two sources without letting either source do all the work. Readers can tell which ideas came from each source and find the sources in a Works Cited list.
Common Misconceptions: Students may swap a few words in a sentence and call it a paraphrase. Some cite only direct quotes, or list several sources even though their writing relies almost entirely on one.
How to Assess It: Give students two short source cards with author, title, publication details, and page numbers. Ask for a three-sentence paragraph using both sources, with MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a printed draft and two source excerpts; have them highlight borrowed ideas, mark uncited lines, and rewrite one copied sentence.
Ask students to write: Which source better supports this claim, and what does the other source add?
Hand out citation cards with missing authors, page numbers, or titles; have teams repair each MLA citation using the source card.
Print two restaurant reviews; have students write a recommendation in their own words that cites both reviewers.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 11-12.W.8.d, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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