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Common Core ELA8th GradeWriting

W.8.8: Gather Sources and Cite Them Without Plagiarizing

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.8 · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge.

All 41 8th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 8, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What W.8.8 Means in Plain English

Eighth graders search with specific terms, check who wrote each source and whether its facts hold up, then borrow ideas honestly: a paraphrase rebuilt in their own sentence structure, a quotation in quotation marks when the wording matters, and a citation in a standard format such as MLA.

The wording matches seventh grade (W.7.8) exactly, so growth shows in the work itself: harder sources, fewer reminders, and paraphrases that change the structure as well as the words. Grades 9 to 10 (W.9-10.8) ask for authoritative sources, advanced searches and selective use of information.

W.8.8 I Can Statements

  • I can use specific search terms to find relevant print and digital sources.
  • I can judge whether a source is credible and its facts accurate.
  • I can quote or paraphrase without plagiarizing and cite in MLA format.

W.8.8 Worked Example

Both students used the same passage on Roman aqueducts and both cited it. Only one of them actually paraphrased.

Prompt

Use this passage in a paragraph of your research report on Roman engineering. Paraphrase it without plagiarizing, quote any words you keep, and cite it in MLA format. From Elena Brask, Water for the Empire: How Rome Built Its Aqueducts, Stonegate Press, 2020, page 41: “Roman engineers carried water to their cities without a single pump. Each aqueduct sloped gently downhill for its whole length, so gravity alone kept the water moving. Where a valley lay in the way, the builders raised rows of stone arches and carried the channel across it, a river on stilts.”

Not YetRoman engineers brought water to their cities without one pump. Each aqueduct sloped slightly downhill for its entire length, so gravity alone kept the water going. Where a valley was in the way, the builders put up rows of stone arches and carried the channel across it, a river on stilts (Brask).This is patchwriting: Brask’s three sentences with “carried” swapped for “brought,” “gently” for “slightly” and “whole” for “entire.” Naming the author does not make borrowed wording a paraphrase, none of it is in quotation marks, not even “a river on stilts,” and the citation is missing the page number.
Meets the StandardRoman cities got their water from a slope, not a machine. As Elena Brask explains, engineers built every aqueduct to fall gently from start to finish so that gravity did all the work, and when a valley blocked the route, they bridged it with rows of stone arches (41). Brask calls such a crossing “a river on stilts” (41). Work Cited: Brask, Elena. Water for the Empire: How Rome Built Its Aqueducts. Stonegate Press, 2020.The idea is rebuilt in the student’s own sentence structure, with the author named in a signal phrase. The one phrase worth keeping exactly, “a river on stilts,” sits in quotation marks, both borrowings carry the page number, and the Work Cited entry follows MLA format.
Moves to Use
Read the passage, cover it, and write the idea from memory.Change the structure as well as the words: start from a different part of the idea.Quote only a phrase too vivid or precise to rewrite, in quotation marks.Name the author in a signal phrase and give the page number.Write the citation entry from the source in hand, not from memory.

Common Mistakes with W.8.8

Patchwriting

The source’s sentences with “carried” swapped for “brought” and “whole” for “entire”

Try this: Have students paraphrase with the source covered, then compare and put quotation marks around any run of three or more matching words.

One-word searches

Typing “aqueduct” and taking the first three results

Try this: Model refining a search with specific terms such as how Roman aqueducts used gravity, then compare the top results as a class.

Trusting any page that looks official

A note card from an anonymous site with no author, no date and no sources of its own

Try this: Have students record author, date, publisher and purpose for every source, and drop any source where they cannot fill in three.

Where W.8.8 Fits

Comes BeforeW.7.8The same expectations: search well, judge credibility, quote or paraphrase without plagiarizing and cite in a standard format.
AlongsideW.8.7Short research projects on a question, the work these sources feed.RI.8.9Analyze where two texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation, the check behind judging accuracy.
Comes NextW.9-10.8Use authoritative sources and advanced searches, and integrate information selectively to keep the flow of ideas.

Practice W.8.8

Quick Check

  1. Why is the weak response plagiarism even though it names Brask?
  2. Which phrase does the strong response quote, and why quote it instead of paraphrasing?
  3. Why does the in-text citation in the strong response give only the page number, (41)?

W.8.8: Other Names

W.8.8CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.8

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.