3 mistakes learners make with working with sources, each one named and explained.
A source is evidence about the person who made it as much as about the event.
A reform is credited to the wrong figure, or a term is given the wrong definition.
History is dense with names, dates and terms learned together, and neighbours in the list swap places.
Question. Who led the campaign that won the vote for women in Britain?
A common answer. A figure from a different campaign
The answer. The suffrage campaigners, led by figures such as the Pankhursts
Why. Attribution matters: the claim is about who did what, so the wrong name makes the whole sentence false.
Tie each name to the one thing it is known for.
A photograph or an official report is called reliable simply because it is a photograph or official.
Some kinds of source feel factual by nature, so the question of who made it and why never gets asked.
Question. Why might an official government report on a battle be unreliable?
A common answer. It is official, so it is reliable
The answer. It was written by a side that wanted to look successful
Why. Reliability comes from who made a source, when, and for whom, not from the form it takes. An official report can be the most motivated source of all.
Ask who made this, when, and what they wanted it to do.
A source is judged only by what it says, with no use made of its date, author or audience.
The words are right there on the page and the small print above them looks like labelling rather than evidence.
Question. A diary entry from 1940 describes high morale. How should it be used?
A common answer. As proof that morale was high
The answer. As evidence of what one person recorded at the time, read alongside who they were
Why. The provenance is part of the evidence. A private diary, an official broadcast and a foreign newspaper say different things even when the words match.
Read the attribution before the extract, and use it in the answer.
WAJD spots these patterns in your child's answers and names the one behind their wrong answers, instead of just marking them wrong.