Worksheet: Citing Sources in Human Rights Research

Cover teacher: you need no subject knowledge

What this practises: GCSE Religious Studies (Made for Wales), Unit 4: Religion and human rights, section 4.2.1 Selecting and researching charities or organisations (how their work aligns with the relevant articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), and section 4.1.1, religious and non-religious perspectives on human rights. It also covers honest use of sources, since WJEC’s malpractice rules apply to all NEA work. This is practice only, not NEA work. The charities are invented. If the right to education is one of your school’s current Unit 4 issues, the lesson is still only practice: pupils must not bring NEA drafts to it or copy anything from it into an NEA.

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “The right to education: Rhys’s research pack”, one between two. No computers are needed. Pupils need a highlighter.

Run: 7 min pupils read the pack in pairs · 12 min Step 1, find the problems in Rhys’s draft · 10 min Step 2, write the references · 8 min Step 3, can Rhys use it? · 18 min Step 4, the rewrite, alone and in silence · 5 min check against the success criteria. Total 60 minutes.

Collect: this sheet. The worked example is the answer key.

What you are doing

Rhys has written a first draft about charities and the right to education. Some of it is his own work. Some of it is not, and his reference list is no use to anyone. You will find the problems, write proper Harvard references, decide which images and words he is allowed to use, and then rewrite his paragraph honestly, so that every claim is his own words or clearly credited.

Key words: plagiarism (presenting someone else’s words or ideas as your own), patchwriting (changing a few words of a source but keeping its sentences and order), citation (a short credit in your text, like (Lamp Trust, 2025)), reference list (the full details of every source, at the end).

Step 1: what is wrong with the draft?

Highlight the draft on the pack. Find six problems. For each one, quote a few words, name the problem, and say why it matters.

Step 2: write the references

Harvard referencing uses these patterns. Copy the punctuation exactly. Titles of web pages and newspapers go in italics; when handwriting, underline them.

Web page: Organisation (Year) Title of page. Available at: web address (Accessed: day month year). Newspaper: Surname, Initial. (Year) ‘Title of article’, Newspaper name, day month. Available at: web address (Accessed: day month year). Image: Surname, Initial. (Year) Title [Photograph]. Available at: web address (Accessed: day month year). In the text: (Organisation, Year) or (Surname, Year). Sacred texts: give book, chapter and verse in the text, for example (Proverbs 22:6). Many Harvard guides do not put them in the reference list.

Write the reference list entry for Sources 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, in alphabetical order.

Source 5 is an AI chatbot answer with no sources. Why should Rhys not reference it as evidence for the “5 million girls” figure or the Bible quotation? What should he do instead?

Step 3: can Rhys use it?

For each idea, decide Yes, Yes, if … or No, and give the reason. Think about the person who made the work, as well as the rules.

Step 4: rewrite the paragraph honestly

Write 150 to 200 words, in your own words, on: How does the work of charities support the right to education? You must:

Step by step

Success criteria

I can tell the difference between taking inspiration from other people’s work and appropriating it without permission, and I can name plagiarism and patchwriting when I see them.
I reference sources using a formal citation convention (Harvard), with citations in my text and a full reference list.
I make ethical decisions about using other people’s creative work, thinking about the creator’s point of view, the licence and UK copyright rules.
I check claims, including anything from an AI chatbot, against a reliable source before I use them.
I explain how a charity’s work aligns with an article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, using religious and non-religious perspectives, and reach my own judgement.

Rhys wants to …	Decision	Reason
(a) quote two sentences from Lamp Trust in quotation marks, with a citation, and then comment on them.
(b) paste the Lamp Trust classroom photo into a presentation that will go on the school’s public website.
(c) use Megan Hughes’s classroom photo (Source 6) in the same presentation.
(d) use the slogan “Her Pen, Her Future” as the title of his own school campaign, without mentioning Iqra Futures.
(e) write his own slogan for a school campaign, after seeing how short and memorable the Iqra Futures one is.

Citing sources in human rights research