Using Informal Citations to Share Information -- Example

Example 

1. The teacher provides me with URLs that link to sources of information about the topic of my historical fiction book.

Vietnam War: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/index.html http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar585370&st=vietnam+war (Note:  To open World Book from home, you need the user name and password provided by your teacher to enter http://pioneer.uen.org/k12/Control.)

2. I search the sources for interesting information.
I select three pieces of information that best help me to understand the background for my historical fiction novel.
I create an informal citation for each of the three.
Each needs

• clear and relevant information, 
• a signal phrase, 
• and sufficient information about the source.

Facts I found about the Vietnam War: 1. According to Marc Jason Gilbert in the article about Vietnam he wrote for World Book Online,  the Vietnam War lasted from 1957 to 1975 and "was the longest war in which the United States took part."   2.  The section of PBS's American Experience Series that tells about the Vietnam War provides a list of terms used during the war. It records that soldiers in Vietnam called a hut or house they lived in a "hootch."  3.  The feature titled "Weapons of War" on PBS's Vietnam Online confirms that the standard issue rifle for infantrymen in the Vietnam War was the  M-16 which "had an effective range of about 435 yards."

3.  I copy and save the URL (web address) where I found each piece of information.

Sources:   http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar585370&st=vietnam+war http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/language.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/weapons.html