South Dakota ELA 8.W.6.a

ELA8th GradeWriting

The Standard

8.W.6: Use technology, including digital tools/platforms, to format, produce, and publish writing.

Link to and cite sources with a standard format such as MLA or APA.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students add working links to online sources and cite sources in one format, such as MLA or APA. They give credit for quotes, paraphrases, and borrowed facts.
What Mastery Looks Like: A reader can follow each link to the source used. Each in-text citation matches an entry in the source list, and the student uses the same format throughout.
Common Misconceptions: Students may paste a URL alone and think that counts as a citation. They may cite quotes but not paraphrases, or switch between MLA and APA formats.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Make an MLA Works Cited entry for NASA Science's “Evidence” page at https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/. Make the URL clickable.

Lesson moves

Give pairs source cards with an author, title, date, and URL; have them arrange the details into MLA Works Cited entries.
Display a claim about octopuses having three hearts with and without a citation; ask which version readers can check and why.
Run a citation match: students pair four in-text citations with four Works Cited entries, then fix one unmatched citation.
Have students recommend an event from their local library's website in a message to a friend, with a clickable link and MLA entry.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 8.W.6.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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