How to ask a question worth asking and answer it honestly: sourcing, corroboration, bias, reading data, claim–evidence–reasoning, the counterclaim, citation, and taking informed action. Study cards, hints, a practice quiz at three levels, and a four-part workshop built on one small town’s decision.
You find ten articles all saying the same thing. That feels like overwhelming confirmation.
Ten copies of one claim are ONE source. Before you count something as confirmed, trace each version back and see how many independent origins you actually have — usually fewer than the number of links.
What people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
Saying a source is biased is a complete criticism of it.
Every source has a point of view — saying so tells the reader nothing. Real analysis names the direction: biased toward WHAT, what the author stood to gain, and which specific word or omission shows it. That is a sentence, not a label.
Biased toward what, and shown how.
⚠️People often think…
A primary source is more reliable than a secondary one.
Primary means CLOSE to the event, not true. An eyewitness can lie, misremember or see only a corner of it. A careful historian with fifty documents may be far more reliable than one letter. Judge each on its own terms.
Primary means close, not true.
⚠️People often think…
If two things rose together, one of them caused the other.
It could be either direction, or a third factor driving both, or chance. A causal claim needs the MECHANISM written out — the step in between — and some reason to rule out the alternatives.
Name the mechanism and the third factor.
⚠️People often think…
You only need a citation when you quote directly.
A paraphrase needs one just as much. What you are crediting is the IDEA and the finding, not the sentence. Rewording someone’s research and leaving the citation off is still taking their work.
Cite the idea, not just the words.
⚠️People often think…
Listing your evidence is the same as making an argument.
Evidence without reasoning is a list. Each piece needs a sentence saying WHY it supports the claim — the “because”. That sentence is where almost all the credit lives, and it is the one people leave out.
Always write the because.
⚠️People often think…
A strong claim should be as broad as you can make it.
A claim should be exactly as wide as your evidence, and no wider. “This mattered in Chicago between 1919 and 1929” is defensible; “this is why cities changed” invites a counterexample you cannot answer. Narrow claims win arguments.
One claim, no wider than the evidence.
Worth knowing cold
Four moves that carry an argument
These are the ones graders look for. Each has a sentence you can actually write.
SourcingWho made this, when, for whom, and what did they have at stake? “Biased” alone is not analysis — say biased toward WHAT, and how it shows in the text.
CorroborationDoes an INDEPENDENT source say the same thing? Ten repetitions of one report do not corroborate anything.
MechanismIf you claim X caused Y, write the step in between. Rising together is not causing — name the third factor you ruled out.
The becauseEvidence without reasoning is a list. Every piece of evidence needs a sentence saying why it supports the claim.
Ask, gather, check, claim, tell
1Watch one
A newspaper editorial from 1919 defends a factory owner. How do you use it?
Source it: who published this, for which readers, and who was paying for the paper.
Name the direction: it is arguing FOR the owner’s position — so it is strong evidence of what that side said, and weak evidence of what happened.
Corroborate: find an independent source — a union paper, an inspection report, a court record.
Now use it for what it can prove, and say so in the sentence. A biased source is still evidence — of something specific. ✓
2Do one with me
Fill in what each move requires.
Ten articles repeating one report count as this many sources:
A paraphrase needs a
Evidence still needs a sentence giving the
💬One sentence, then you move on
Why is “it’s biased” not enough?
3Try one
You claim one thing caused another. Name the one part most answers leave out.
I want a hint first
You have to explain HOW the first thing produced the second, not just that it did.
💬Last one — then you're done here
Why is a narrower claim stronger than a broad one?
Where this goes
Where this lives
Checking a claim someone forwarded you, reading a news story with a single anonymous source, writing anything where somebody might reasonably ask how you know.
What this feeds
That closes the social studies wing. Every unit before this one was practice for the question “how do you know?”
Name one claim you have seen repeated that you never traced back.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🧭 The inquiry arc
Ask a question worth asking → gather sources → source and corroborate them → build a claim from the evidence → answer the other side → tell someone who can act → act → check whether it worked.
Ask, gather, check, claim, answer, tell, act.
🤝 The one idea
‘How do you know?’ is the only question that matters. Everything in this unit is a way of answering it honestly.
⚠️ Traps to avoid
‘It’s biased’ is not analysis. Say biased toward WHAT, and how it shows.
Primary does not mean true. Secondary does not mean worse.
Ten copies of one claim are one source.
Rising together is not causing. Look for the mechanism and the third factor.
A paraphrase needs a citation just as much as a quotation does.
Evidence without reasoning is a list. Always write the ‘because’.
📐 Sourcing a document — the chart
Ask
Why it matters
Who made it?
what they could know, and what they had at stake
When?
at the time, or years later from memory
For whom?
a private diary and a public speech say different things
Why?
to inform, persuade, sell, defend or entertain
What is missing?
whose voice is not here, and why
Who agrees?
does an independent source say the same
🎯 How you will be assessed
Is your question open and worth asking?
Did you use several kinds of sources, and source each one?
Does every claim have evidence AND reasoning?
Did you state the counterclaim fairly and answer it?
Did you cite everything that is not yours, and say what your evidence cannot show?
✅ Before you present, can you…
Say your thesis in one breath?
Name your three strongest pieces of evidence and where each came from?
State the best argument against you?
Say what would change your mind?
Name who can act on your findings, and what you are asking them to do?
Pick your level
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
One small town, one real decision. Put the inquiry in order, source three documents, graph the survey, then make your recommendation to the council. Riverton is invented — the skills are not.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
Date
—
Topic
—
Level
—
Independent
0 of 0
Supported
0 of 0
Hints used
0
Cards studied
0
Lab
—
Traps met
0
Explained in own words
0
Confidence
—
The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.