1 - Start ~4 mins
You already have a way to judge whether material is free to reuse, and you know a rough source log beats "found on the internet". Today the bar rises: a log only helps if someone else can follow it. You will sort broken credits to see what each one is missing, then write a small set of your own references properly, with creator, link, licence or permission, and date where they apply.
2 - Examine and Discuss ~8 mins
Compare these two invented credits for the same free photo on the board:
- Weak: "Photo from the internet."
- Strong: "Harbour at dawn" by Orla Byrne, https://freeshots.example/h441, free to reuse with credit (CC BY 4.0: free to reuse if you credit the creator), accessed 4 March 2025.
With a partner (90 seconds): name the four pieces the strong credit has that the weak one lacks. Which of those four is hardest to track down after the fact, and why?
A reference is a short, honest trail from your work back to the person or place you borrowed from. It is how you avoid plagiarism (presenting someone else's work as your own), how you respect intellectual property (the creator's legal rights over what they made), and how a reader can check your claim.
For online material, a solid credit usually answers four questions:
- Creator: who made it (name, handle or organisation)?
- Link: where can someone find the original?
- Licence or permission: are you allowed to use it, and on what terms (for example free to reuse with credit, or written permission)?
- Date: when did you access it (pages change)?
The weak credit cannot be checked. The strong one can.
3 - Hands-on: Credit It Right ~12 mins
Work on the interactive activity. Each card is a badly written credit for invented online material. Drag it into the bucket that names what it is mainly missing. Be ready to say why, and what one line you would add to fix it.
If you have a device, sort the same cards yourself and be ready to defend one placement. If not, jot your bucket choice and the one-line fix before the class agrees.
- Read the card carefully. What can a stranger still not check?
- Drag it into Missing the creator, Missing the link, Missing the licence or permission, or Missing the date.
- After each placement, the class agrees one fix: the exact words or detail that would complete the credit.
- If two things are missing, pick the gap that stops someone finding or reusing the work safely, and name the second gap out loud.
Leave able to spot a broken credit in under ten seconds and name the repair.
Credit it right: what is missing?
4 - Your Turn ~10 mins
First, watch one live build on the board (about 60 seconds): the class fills the template for a single starter source so you see a finished reference line appear. Then write three of your own the same way. These are the lines you paste under your piece on publish day. Treat this as the habit, not a tidy-up at the end. Finish them now so publish day is not a scramble.
- You have referenced at least three online sources (image, audio, page, clip, or data).
- Each reference includes, where it applies: creator, link, licence or permission, and access date.
- If a source has no clear licence or permission, you either replace it or mark it "not cleared" and do not plan to publish it.
- You save the list the class way so it is there when you build and check the piece.
Template (use this line for each source): Title/description. Creator: … Link: … Licence or permission: … Accessed: …
If you do not have your own sources yet, use three from this starter set and reference them fully as practice:
- An invented free photo: title "Pier lights", creator Maeve Collins, page https://freeshots.example/pier22, licence CC0 (no credit required, free to reuse), you accessed it today.
- An invented article: "Why school radio still matters" by Tomás Ó Broin on YouthWire.example, link https://youthwire.example/school-radio, no reuse licence stated for copying the full text (you may quote a short line with credit).
- An invented sound effect: "Soft whoosh" by North Loop Audio, https://northloop.example/whoosh3, free to reuse with credit.
5 - Make Sense ~3 mins
Pull the pattern together. A usable online reference is not a polite extra; it is how you prove you sourced material accurately, safely and ethically. Creator, link, licence or permission, and date are the four checks. If one is missing, the credit is not finished.
Name one repair you made today, either on a class card or on your own list. That repair is the habit to keep when you build and publish: credit as you go, not as a last-minute scramble.
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