Today you will turn each entry in your research log into a full reference, which says who made it and where to find it. Anything you cannot reference comes out of your project.
A reference is the credit for one source, so a reader could find it again. It has five parts, in this order:
- creator or organisation
- title or description
- link, or where to find it if it is not online: the publisher and year for a book or printed article, or who you spoke to, when and where for an interview
- the date accessed, which is the day you opened it, for anything online
- licence or permission, which says how you may use it
Check the example against them. What would make a reference useless?
Log note: "article about teen sleep and phones, useful stats"
Here is the same source written as a complete reference. Sleep Health Ireland and its link are made up for this example, so you will not find them. The five parts come in order, with a full stop after each one.
Sleep Health Ireland. Teen sleep and phone use: what the research shows. https://sleephealth.example/teen-phones. Accessed 12 March 2025. Licence: free to read and to share a link to it, but not free to copy the full text.
A source with no link looks like this. This one is made up too, and the name is left out to keep it private.
My grandmother. Interview about going online in the 1990s. Spoken to at home on 3 March 2025. Permission: she agreed that I could quote her.
If you cannot name the creator, find a working link for something online, or show the licence for an image, clip or sound you reused, you cannot credit that source properly. Remove it or replace it, and never leave it uncredited. A book, a printed article or an interview you did yourself has no link, so it stays as long as you can give the details above.
Your research log is in Your project so far below. Type your reference list in Enter Your Work under this step, with a full reference for each source. The box is set out like the template below, with room for three sources and any AI help; add more the same way. The template has the same parts, in the same order, as the template on the board.
Creator: ____
Title or description: ____
Link, or where to find it if it is not online: ____
Date accessed (online sources only): ____
Licence or permission (you must have this for an image, clip or sound you reused): ____
If you used AI
Name of the AI tool: ____
What you used it for: ____
Date you used it: ____
What of it is in my project: nothing (ideas only), some wording, or a picture: ____
If your log has fewer than three sources you can use, spend the first five minutes adding to it in Enter Your Work under the next step, which opens with your log. Look for captions in your draft, check the files you downloaded, and look through your browser history.
- Write a full reference for the first entry in your log.
- If you cannot find one of the parts, write what you have, mark that reference incomplete and move on. Do not make up details you cannot check.
- Keep going until every source you can still trace has a reference.
If you used AI for ideas, wording or pictures, give it its own reference too.
Partway through, your teacher will call a stand-and-show. When that happens, stand and hold up one finished reference or one incomplete entry for 60 seconds, then get back to work.
Before you finish, check that:
- every source you can trace has a full reference
- every incomplete entry is clearly marked, not skipped
- you have pressed Save on your reference list
Now deal with every reference you marked incomplete. Enter Your Work under this step opens with your research log, ready to add to.
- Spend about four minutes looking for what is missing, by opening the link again, checking your browser history, or searching for the page by its title. If you find it, finish the reference in your reference list. After four minutes, stop searching.
- For anything you still cannot trace, either replace it with a source you can fully credit or remove it from your draft and log. If you need more time, write down a plan to find a replacement before your teacher next checks your project, instead of making up a credit.
- Write a one-line note for each in your research log, saying what you did and why.
- Press Save on your reference list and on your log.
If you have about two minutes left, do a partner check. Swap lists, and your partner names one reference that is clear and one that is still missing a part. Note the gap, then fix it before next session.
Before you finish, check that:
- every incomplete entry has a note saying whether you replaced it, removed it or plan to replace it
- every source left in your project has a full reference
- your reference list and your log are saved
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