NoodleBib
I don’t think I have ever met anyone who enjoys putting together a bibliography or works cited list. The formatting rules are no picnic for the writer or the teacher who will be grading it. Honestly- having 4th graders word process a bibliography from scratch is pure torture. You have to have a keen eye for detail to adjust the spacing and punctuation, and the average kid just doesn’t see it. However, it’s not a choice; it’s a necessity to cite sources. But do we need to know how to set it up on our own? Why not use a tool that makes it bearable for all parties to fulfill the obligation?
Don’t walk- RUN to use the following:
NoodleBib MLA Starter – it’s recommended for Gr 1 – 5. You can sign up for free accounts, and no email is required. And yes, it is easy for students to use. The directions are very clear. You can download the bibliography or works cited list to Word. A lot of teachers taking grad courses use this site for their own papers after they have seen the miracles it performs for their own students!
NoodleBib Express – This is for a quick citation. No account set up, and you can choose the citation style: APA, MLA, or Chicago/Turabian format.
NoodleTools, the maker of this goodness, also offers Teacher Resources (21st Century Literacies, a curriculum collaboration toolkit, and the ethical researcher).
I know we say this a lot, but NoodleBib truly is one of those tools that I wish were around when I was in school… and had four papers due!
Boy, is this a great feature. If I ever need to create a bibliography, I will be using this – then my family won’t have to hear me crying.
Yes, no tears! 🙂
These are all excellent resources. I have bookmarked them all. Thanks for sharing them!
I recently used Noodlebib for the first time. It was so easy and took very little time. Wish I had this resource during college and grad school!
I love using NoodleBib in the classroom! It is such a valuable tool for the kids to use when doing research reports. (And for me too when I have to do annotated bibs for a course!) During our first research project, I take time in class to show the students how to use it and then I give them time to enter at least one or two sources. Then they can either finish at home or in class during morning work. Then I find that once the kids know how to use it, many continue to use it for other research projects.
I have found that I need to remind the students that this is a learning tool for them and it is to be used appropriately. The reason I mention this is that I did encounter a problem last year with one of my student’s accounts. I discovered after we completed a research project, that there was a VERY inappropriate bibliography list. There was no way to find out who did it since it was possible that any student in the class or even the previous year’s students could have figured out the password and gotten into an account that was not theirs. Because of this, I will be varying the passwords every year, more work for me but safer in the long run. =)
Good point about resetting passwords if you’re going to use accounts each year with a different batch of students!
After teaching 4th grade for 7 years, I totally agree with this statement: “Honestly- having 4th graders word process a bibliography from scratch is pure torture.” Thanks for these great resources!!
Noodle Bib is great, this is a really hard skill for most students, and to tell the truth, I still hate it. I have memories of working on bibliographies in college at 4:30 in the morning and just being panicked that I would be counted off for spacing.
Easy Bib is another nice bibliography tool