• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Checking claims online: lateral reading and tracing sources; Bias and loaded language in reporting). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Is the proposed answer correct? A quote is shared with a famous scientist's photo, but you can't find it in any of her speeches or writings. What should you conclude? → it must be real because her photo is there (yes, it is correct / no, it is not correct) → no, it is not correctPrompt: Good checkers leave the page and see what other reliable sources say.
2. Is the proposed answer correct? "Protesters STORMED the town hall to demand cheaper bus fares." Which word is loaded? → fares (yes, it is correct / no, it is not correct) → no, it is not correctPrompt: Look for words that judge rather than describe.
3. Is the proposed answer correct? A website's address looks almost like a famous newspaper's, but with one letter different. What should you suspect? → nothing; addresses don't matter (yes, it is correct / no, it is not correct) → no, it is not correctPrompt: Good checkers leave the page and see what other reliable sources say.

• Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
• Share the objective: Evaluating research sources: primary vs secondary, authority, purpose. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: For a research project, is this usually a primary or a secondary source? a photograph taken at a 1963 protest march
• Step 1: Primary sources are first-hand evidence; secondary sources interpret or summarise primary sources.
• Step 2: Created at the event itself.
• Step 3: So the answer is: primary source
• Answer: primary source
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. For a research project, is this usually a primary or a secondary source? a novelist's handwritten letters to her publisher (primary source / secondary source) → primary sourcePrompt: Was it created at the time, by someone directly involved?
2. Read the question and choose. You are researching the safety of an energy drink. Which source is most trustworthy? (a report paid for by the drink's manufacturer / a blog by a fitness influencer / a forum thread with anonymous comments / a peer-reviewed study by independent researchers) → a peer-reviewed study by independent researchersPrompt: Think about authority (who made it), currency (when), purpose (why) and evidence (how).

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Read the question and choose. What does 'peer-reviewed' mean? (it was published online / other experts checked the research before it was published / it was written by students / it is very popular) → other experts checked the research before it was publishedPrompt: Think about authority (who made it), currency (when), purpose (why) and evidence (how).
2. For a research project, is this usually a primary or a secondary source? a magazine article summarising several scientific studies (primary source / secondary source) → secondary sourcePrompt: Was it created at the time, by someone directly involved?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-11.