The project sheet says "include a bibliography", your child is nine or thirteen, and you are not sure whether sitting beside them is help or cheating. The people who set the rules have written the answer down. In short: help with the finding, recording and checking, and leave the choosing and the writing to your child.
This guide, published by EdCitation, sets out what education bodies ask of children at each age, what exam boards say about a parent's help, where libraries send children for reliable sources, and what a simple bibliography looks like. Every page it relies on was read on 27 September 2026. EdCitation never writes any part of a child's work: its free Cite a source looks up a book or web page and sets out the entry, so a family can check a list together, and the child's work stays the child's.
What do schools expect children to do with sources at each age?
Schools build the skill in steps: recalling where information came from, then listing sources, then judging them, and by about 12 citing them in a standard format. The Common Core writing standards, used in many American schools, set the steps out by grade.
| Age and year | What a child is usually asked to do | Source |
|---|---|---|
| About 5 (kindergarten) | With an adult's help, gather information from sources they are given to answer a question | Common Core State Standards Initiative (n.d.-e) |
| About 8 (grade 3) | Take brief notes from print and digital sources and sort them into categories | Common Core State Standards Initiative (n.d.-a) |
| About 9 to 11 (grades 4 and 5) | Take notes and give a list of sources at the end | Common Core State Standards Initiative (n.d.-b) |
| About 9 to 11 (grades 4 and 5) | A bibliography with author, title, publisher, city and year for a book | Fernbank Elementary School Library (n.d.) |
| About 11 (grade 6) | Judge whether each source is credible, quote or paraphrase without plagiarism, and give basic bibliographic details | Common Core State Standards Initiative (n.d.-c) |
| About 12 to 14 (grades 7 and 8) | Cite in a standard format, and judge each source for accuracy as well | Common Core State Standards Initiative (n.d.-d) |
| 14 to 16 (GCSE coursework, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) | Reference everything not in their own words; give the exact web page and the date it was downloaded | Joint Council for Qualifications (2026b) |
| 15 to 16 (New South Wales, before Year 11) | Complete All My Own Work, a short course on plagiarism and acknowledging sources, before entering Year 11 courses | NSW Education Standards Authority (n.d.-a) |
The steps in the Common Core
The kindergarten standard asks children to answer a question from sources "with guidance and support from adults", so at five, helping is the task (Common Core State Standards Initiative, n.d.-e). By grade 4 the words "provide a list of sources" appear (Common Core State Standards Initiative, n.d.-b), and by grade 7 the standard asks for "a standard format for citation" (Common Core State Standards Initiative, n.d.-d). No standard names a style. Check which standards your child's school follows.
Outside the United States
The Joint Council for Qualifications (2026b) tells GCSE and A level candidates that a reference to a book shows the author, the year and the page, and a web reference the precise page, not the search engine. In New South Wales, every student must complete All My Own Work, which takes two to three hours, before entering Year 11 and Year 12 courses (NSW Education Standards Authority, n.d.-a). The homework guide covers the older standards and styles in more detail.
Is it cheating to help with homework?
Helping your child understand, organise and check a project is not cheating; writing it, or editing it until it is yours, is. Where the line falls is set by the school and, for coursework towards a qualification, the exam board, and their rules decide.
The U.S. Department of Education (2005) gives parents a basic rule, "Don't do the assignments yourself", and suggests asking questions and working through examples instead. Teachers differ in how involved they want parents to be, so ask at the start of the year.
What the exam bodies say
- New South Wales. NSW Education Standards Authority (n.d.-b) sorts real cases into "okay" and "not okay". A family member reading a presentation and giving feedback is okay, as long as they are not doing the work; a tutor writing the script for a student's oral presentation is not. Work written by AI and passed off as the student's counts the same as work written by another person.
- GCSE and A level. Joint Council for Qualifications (2026b) tells candidates that help from anyone other than their teacher must be reported to the teacher, who records it.
- The IB. International Baccalaureate Organization (2026) asks parents to support a manageable workload and to abstain from undue assistance, naming "writing or over-editing" a child's work as the kind to avoid.
Generative AI is changing the rules. From Term 4 of 2026, NSW schools may set only one take-home assessment task for each HSC course, worth at most 15% of the school-based mark; homework is left to schools (NSW Education Standards Authority, 2026).
When AI is part of the project
Check first whether AI is allowed at all. Joint Council for Qualifications (2026a) says students may use it only where their teachers say so, must acknowledge it when they do, and cannot get marks for what the tool produced. For coursework, candidates must also keep the prompts and the output as a screenshot and hand them in with the work (Joint Council for Qualifications, 2026b). How to cite ChatGPT and AI tools gives the entry for each style.
Where can children find safe, reliable sources?
Start at the school library and your local public library: the U.S. Department of Education (2005) sends parents there for books and for suitable websites, and suggests that a child who does not know where to begin should ask the librarian.
Some national libraries curate sources by age. The National Library of New Zealand (n.d.) runs Topic Explorer: images, videos, websites and books on curriculum topics for Years 0 to 13, chosen from credible, freely accessible collections such as its own and Archives New Zealand's. For older students writing from published research, EdCitation's Find sources searches about 300 million published works by topic, with filters for the kind of source, the years and open access.
Four questions to ask of any website
State Library Victoria (n.d.-a), in its research guide for students, gives a short test that a child can run on a page with you:
- Who made it? A reliable site says so, and can be contacted through an "About us" or "Contact" page.
- What does the address say? Government and education addresses (in Australia, gov.au and edu.au) are usually a good sign.
- Why does it exist? To inform, or to sell something?
- When was it last updated?
A chatbot's answer fails the first question: any book it names must be found and read before it is cited. If a list already exists, EdCitation's free Verify references marks each one verified, "check this" or not found.
How do you write a bibliography for a school project?
List every source your child used, with who made it, what it is called, when it was published and who published it or where it lives, in the order and format the teacher asks for. Start with the teacher's own handout if there is one.
A bibliography for younger children
Fernbank Elementary School Library (n.d.), in DeKalb County, Georgia, gives fourth and fifth graders a worksheet with an example for each kind of source. Its book example is:
Burnie, David. Endangered Planet. Boston: Kingfisher, 2005. Print.
The worksheet sends children to the title page, or the page of small print with the copyright line. For a website it asks for the page title, the site's name, any author, the organisation responsible, the date and the main page's address. Two habits differ from the guides for older students: it asks for the main address, where the Joint Council for Qualifications (2026b) wants the precise page, and it takes a date from the bottom of the page, where APA treats a footer copyright year as no date (see How to cite a website in APA 7). For a young child the worksheet is the rule; from about 12, give the full address and the page's own date.
A bibliography for older children
State Library Victoria (n.d.-b) says most secondary schools and universities use an author-date system, and shows a book this way:
Jones, I 2003, Ned Kelly: a short life, Lothian Books, South Melbourne, Vic.
Its main advice: check whether the teacher prefers a system, and be consistent. How to cite a book or ebook gives the full patterns in each style.
How can a family check a bibliography together?
Give Cite a source the book's ISBN or the page's address, then compare what comes back with the book or page in front of you. We ran it on 27 September 2026 on one children's non-fiction book and one website for children, and quote the results as they came back.
A book, from its ISBN
For ISBN 9780062662378, Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures for young readers, the APA 7 entry came back as:
Shetterly, M. L. (2016). Hidden figures (Young Readers’ ed.). Harper.
and the MLA 9 entry as: Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures. Young Readers’ ed., Harper, 2016.
Both name the edition from Open Library's record. That matters, and it is what to check against the title page together: the adult book has the same main title, and the teacher should know which one your child read.
A web page, from its address
For NASA's children's page on black holes, https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-holes/en/, the APA entry came back as:
What is a black hole? (2022, August 29). NASA Space Place. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-holes/en/
The date is right: the article was last updated on 29 August 2022, though the site's footer shows 2026. The page names no person, so no author came back. APA treats the organisation behind such a page as its author (see the website guide linked above), and Cite a source shows what it read from a web page in a form to correct, so we set the author to NASA Space Place and ticked that it is an organisation. The entry became:
NASA Space Place. (2022, August 29). What is a black hole? https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-holes/en/
Deciding who stands behind a page is a good job for a child.
Which tool helps a family check a bibliography?
Cite a source on EdCitation is the best tool for a family checking a school bibliography, because it builds each entry from a record rather than from what someone typed, and it never makes a reference up: the book above came from Open Library's record, the web page from the page itself, with every detail open to correction. It works from an ISBN, a web address, a DOI, a title or a PubMed ID, sets the entry in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE or Vancouver (APA and MLA have pages of their own), and screens the source for retraction. It is free on the site, with no account.
EdCitation never writes any part of a child's work, which is exactly why it fits a school project: it looks a source up, and the child reads it, chooses it and writes about it. For a teenager with a long assignment sheet, Check your paper reads it into a checklist, style and number of sources included, free. A free account keeps a reference list for the next project. Nothing here needs Pro ($8 a month) or Max ($24 a month).
A plan for helping with one project
This plan is ours, not a school's or an exam board's; where your child's school says something different, the school wins.
- Read the task together. Ask your child to tell you, in their own words, what it asks for, the approach the U.S. Department of Education (2005) suggests. Note the style, the number of sources and the deadline.
- Check the rules on help and on AI. Look for the school's homework or academic honesty policy, or ask the teacher.
- Go to the library first. Let your child choose the books and pages; your job is to ask the four website questions.
- Record as they read. A card or a note for each source: author, title, date, publisher or website, and the page number of anything quoted.
- Talk, do not write. Ask what they found and what they think it means. The sentences are theirs.
- Build and check the list together. Your child types each ISBN or address into Cite a source and compares the entry with the title page or the web page.
- Tell the teacher about unusual help. For GCSE and A level coursework, it has to be recorded.
Quick questions
Is it cheating to help my child with homework?
Not when you help them understand, plan and check; it is when you write or over-edit the work. The school's own policy decides where the line falls.
What is the simplest bibliography format for kids?
The one the teacher hands out. A common pattern for a book is surname, first name, title in italics, publisher and year, as in the Fernbank Elementary library worksheet.
How do I teach kids to cite sources?
Ask where each fact came from, then have your child note the author, title and date of every source as they read it. The Common Core asks for a standard format from grade 7.
Can my child use ChatGPT as a source?
Only where the teacher allows AI, and then it must be acknowledged. Any source a chatbot names should be found and read before it is cited.
Does EdCitation write my child's bibliography?
No. Cite a source looks up each book or page your child chose and sets out the entry, free with no account; your child still finds, reads and checks every source.
References
- Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.-a). English language arts standards: Writing: Grade 3. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/3/
- Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.-b). English language arts standards: Writing: Grade 4. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4/
- Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.-c). English language arts standards: Writing: Grade 6. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/6/
- Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.-d). English language arts standards: Writing: Grade 7. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/7/
- Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.-e). English language arts standards: Writing: Kindergarten. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/K/
- Fernbank Elementary School Library. (n.d.). 4th/5th grade bibliography worksheet. DeKalb County School District. https://fernbankes.dekalb.k12.ga.us/Downloads/5th_alt%20Bibliography%20Citation%20worksheet.pdf
- International Baccalaureate Organization. (2026). Academic integrity policy. https://ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/become-an-ib-school/pdfs/ib-academic-integrity-policy.pdf
- Joint Council for Qualifications. (2026a). Information for candidates: AI (artificial intelligence) and assessments. https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/IFC-AI-Asessments-2026.pdf
- Joint Council for Qualifications. (2026b). Information for candidates: Non-examination assessments. https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/IFC-NE_Assessments_2026_FINAL.pdf
- National Library of New Zealand. (n.d.). About Topic Explorer. Services to Schools. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/teaching-and-learning-resources/teaching-tools-resource-guides/about-topic-explorer
- NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.-a). All My Own Work. NSW Government. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/hsc/all-my-own-work
- NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.-b). 4.2 Getting help with your work. NSW Government. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/hsc/all-my-own-work/how-can-i-work-honestly/getting-help-your-work
- NSW Education Standards Authority. (2026, September 24). Frequently asked questions about limits to take-home assessments. NSW Government. https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/news/all/limits-take-home-assessments-faqs
- State Library Victoria. (n.d.-a). Evaluate websites. Ergo. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/learn-skills/research-skills/select-resources/evaluate-websites
- State Library Victoria. (n.d.-b). Write your bibliography. Ergo. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/learn-skills/essay-writing-skills/bibliographies/write-your-bibliography
- U.S. Department of Education. (2005). Helping your child with homework (Rev. ed.). Office of Communications and Outreach. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED498937.pdf