A woman traveling west in 1848 wrote in her journal each night on the trail. What can her journal best tell us?

A museum label beside an old iron plow was written this year by museum staff who study farm tools. What can the label best tell us?

A photograph taken at a busy train station in 1885 can show who was standing there, but it cannot tell us why those people came.

A reporter who attended a canal opening in 1825 printed a story about it the next morning. What can this newspaper story best tell us?

A student reads one traveler's journal saying a river crossing was easy, and wants to know whether crossings were usually easy. What should the student do next?

In 1870 a railroad company printed an advertisement calling the plains perfect farmland, hoping settlers would buy its land. What should a reader remember about this source?

A firefighter wrote a report the night of a house fire in 1990, describing what she saw when she arrived. What can her report best tell us?

A writer read an explorer's own journals and then wrote a book about the expedition in 2010. What can the 2010 book best tell us?

Diggers found a broken clay cooking pot at the site of an old village. What can this artifact best tell us?

A class asks why families left farms for cities in the 1890s. One source is letters from families who moved then; another is a farm photo taken this year. Which source better answers the question, and why?

A student researches a school election online. One classmate checks who wrote a website and when it was updated; another checks if it has funny pictures. Which check better judges trustworthiness, and why?

A map drawn by a fur trader in 1810 can show which rivers he knew about, even if some parts of the map are wrong.

A student wants facts about when a state joined the United States. One source is a state government history page. Another source is a travel ad saying the state is beautiful. Which source would more likely give accurate facts, and why?

A class wants to know what people wore during a 1920s parade. One student found a photograph taken at the parade in 1925. Another student found a costume shop's website written this year. Which source would better answer the class's question, and why?

If two different reliable books give the same date for an event, that date is more likely to be accurate.

A newspaper article from 1910 about a new bridge can help historians understand what people knew when the bridge opened.

A city is building a new playground. One source is an advertisement paid for by the company that built it. Another source is a weather report from opening day. Which source may have the strongest bias about the playground, and why?

What should you do if a source does not say who created it?

A letter written to a friend may share feelings that an official government record leaves out.

A class is checking whether a source uses evidence. One source includes a quote from a person who was there. Another source just says everyone agrees. Which source detail best shows that it is using evidence, and why?