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Common Core ELA5th GradeWriting

W.5.8: Take Notes in Your Own Words and List Sources

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.8 · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge.

All 43 5th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 5, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What W.5.8 Means in Plain English

Fifth graders gather facts from their own experience, books and websites, then note them in their own words: “An octopus has three hearts, and two of them pump blood through its gills” becomes “3 hearts, 2 for gills.” The finished piece paraphrases too, and lists its sources.

Fourth graders (W.4.8) take notes and sort them into categories. Fifth grade asks for summarizing and paraphrasing, in the notes and in the finished work. Sixth grade (W.6.8) adds judging whether a source is credible, quoting correctly and avoiding plagiarism.

W.5.8 I Can Statements

  • I can take notes in my own words instead of copying sentences.
  • I can summarize or paraphrase my notes in my finished writing.
  • I can list every source I used with its title.

W.5.8 Worked Example

Two students took notes on the same passage. Only one set of notes could go into a report without being copied again.

Prompt

Take notes on this passage from “Octopus Hearts,” page 12 of our class science reader. Then write one sentence for your report and a source line. “An octopus has three hearts. Two of them pump blood through the gills, where it picks up oxygen, and the third pumps it to the rest of the body. Octopus blood is blue because it carries oxygen with a copper-based protein called hemocyanin.”

Not YetAn octopus has three hearts. Two of them pump blood through the gills, where it picks up oxygen, and the third pumps it to the rest of the body. Source: a book.The notes are the passage copied word for word, so the report sentence will be copied too, and “a book” gives no title or page anyone could find again.
Meets the StandardOctopus: 3 hearts. Two pump blood through the gills to pick up oxygen, one pumps it to the body. Blue blood: hemocyanin, a copper protein, carries the oxygen. In my report: “An octopus has a heart for each gill and a third heart for the rest of its body.” Source: “Octopus Hearts,” class science reader, page 12.Short phrases in the student’s own words keep every fact and drop the book’s sentences. The report sentence says the same thing in a new shape, and the source line gives the title and page so anyone could check it.
Moves to Use
Close the book, then write each fact as a short phrase from memory.Keep the key science word, like hemocyanin, and explain it simply.Turn the notes into a report sentence with a new shape.Write the source line right away: title, where it is, page.

Common Mistakes with W.5.8

Copying sentences into the notes

Notes that match the book word for word, ready to be copied again into the report

Try this: Have students read a paragraph, close the book, write what they remember, then reopen it only to check facts and spellings.

Paraphrasing by swapping one word

“An octopus has three hearts” becomes “An octopus owns three hearts.”

Try this: Teach students to start the sentence from a different word, so the structure changes as well as the vocabulary.

A source list written from memory at the end

“Sources: the internet, a book, my teacher”

Try this: Make the source line part of every note card, so the final list is simply those lines gathered together.

Where W.5.8 Fits

Comes BeforeW.4.8Take notes, sort information into categories and give a list of sources.
AlongsideW.5.7Short research projects that use several sources.RI.5.2Summarize a text and its main ideas, the reading skill behind a good note.
Comes NextW.6.8Judge each source’s credibility, quote or paraphrase without plagiarizing and give basic bibliographic information.

Practice W.5.8

Quick Check

  1. What does the weak response give as its source, and what is missing?
  2. Which science word does the strong response keep, and how does it explain it?
  3. How is the strong response’s report sentence different from the passage?

W.5.8: Other Names

W.5.8CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.8

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.