D3.3.6-8: Supporting Claims with Evidence from Several Sources
In plain English: D3.3.6-8 is the C3 Framework inquiry indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations. Students back a claim with evidence from more than one source and say plainly what that evidence cannot show, such as who was not counted or how long after the event a source was written.
Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence · Developing Claims and Using Evidence · Official standard
D3.3.6-8 asks students to identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations. Middle school writers often back a claim with one quotation, or with a quotation that supports a nearby claim instead of theirs. This lesson teaches three moves: match each piece of evidence to the exact claim, find evidence in more than one source, and say what the evidence cannot show.
The topic is a vehicle for the skill. Students work with sources on the cold summer of 1816 in New England: an 1891 history that collected weather reports, the memoir of a Connecticut clockmaker who lived through it, and a 1920 physics book that links the cold to a volcanic eruption. These touch history, geography, economics and earth science. The quiz then applies the same moves to an invented bike lane, a civics question about a town decision.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Define claim, evidence, corroboration and evidentiary limitation
Identify evidence from two or more sources that supports a specific claim, quoting and citing each
Note the limitations of evidence, such as time gaps, small or local coverage, missing numbers, or sources that are not independent
Revise a claim so that it says no more than the evidence supports
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Evaluating a source's credibility by its relevance and intended use D3.2.6-8
Gathering relevant information from multiple sources D3.1.6-8
Citing specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources RH.6-8.1
"Your friend says, 'Everyone at our school hates the new lunch menu.' What evidence would convince you? What would make you doubt the claim even if some of the evidence is true?"
Collect answers in two columns: Evidence that would help (a survey, many people saying so, leftover food) and Reasons to doubt ("everyone" is too big a word; she only asked her friends; one bad day). Tell students that historians do the same thing: they look for evidence in more than one place, and they say out loud what their evidence cannot prove.
Direct Instruction20 minutes
Part 1: Key words.
A claim is a statement you think is true and want others to accept.
Evidence is information from a source that helps show a claim is true: a quotation, a number, a description.
To corroborate is to back up one source with another. Sources are independent when one did not copy from the other.
An evidentiary limitation (a limit of the evidence) is something the evidence cannot show: a place or time it does not cover, people it leaves out, or a way it might be wrong.
An eyewitness saw an event; a memoir is a book of a person's own memories, often written years later; a compiler gathers reports written by others.
To generalize is to stretch a claim from a few cases to many, for example from one town to a whole region.
Part 2: The compelling question. Post it: Why was 1816 such a hard year in New England? Define three terms in the sources: poverty year and "eighteen hundred and froze to death" were nicknames for 1816; a disk here is the round face of the sun; and the isothermal region, in Source 4, is the high layer of the atmosphere that scientists now call the stratosphere. Read Sources 1, 2 and 4. As you read, underline every sentence that could be evidence for a claim.
1The coldest summer known to have been experienced in New England was that of 1816. Since that time the year has been generally called "poverty year," a name given because so many of the crops proved a failure and it seemed at the time as if nothing would be produced, many of the farmers being brought to want. Some have spoken of it as the year of "eighteen hundred and froze to death." In New Hampshire but little pork was fattened on account of the scarcity and consequent great cost of corn, and the people used mackerel as a substitute for it. For this reason the name given to the year there was "mackerel year." There were frost and snow in all the summer months, and in the northwest section of New England a severe drought prevailed, which added to the disastrous effects of the season.
2Many persons have endeavored to ascertain some cause for the extraordinary nature of this summer, though no opinion has gained much ground. A large number of the people of that time believed that the large spots which appeared on the sun's disk that spring lessened the number of rays of light and consequently the earth was to that extent cooler than usual. The spots were so large that, for the first time in their history, they could be seen without the aid of a telescope. They attracted a great deal of attention from the common people, and their appearance added to the gloom of the season. They were seen by the naked eye for several days, beginning on the third of May, and, reappearing on June 11, they were again seen for a few days only.
Sidney Perley, Historic Storms of New England, chapter LIII (Source 1: "The Cold Summer of 1816," written in 1891) (1891). Public domain (published 1891). Source text.
1[...] The next summer was the cold one of 1816, which none of the old people will ever forget, and which many of the young have heard a great deal about. There was ice and snow in every month in the year. I well remember on the seventh of June, while on my way to work, about a mile from home, dressed throughout with thick woolen clothes and an overcoat on, my hands got so cold that I was obliged to lay down my tools and put on a pair of mittens which I had in my pocket. It snowed about an hour that day. On the tenth of June, my wife brought in some clothes that had been spread on the ground the night before, which were frozen stiff as in winter. On the fourth of July, I saw several men pitching quoits in the middle of the day with thick overcoats on, and the sun shining bright at the same time. A body could not feel very patriotic in such weather. I often saw men when hoeing corn, stop at the end of a row and get in the sun by a fence to warm themselves. Not half enough corn ripened that year to furnish seed for the next. I worked at my trade, and had the job of finishing the inside of a three-story house, having twenty-seven doors and a white oak matched floor to make, and did the whole for eighty-five dollars. The same work could not now be done as I did it for less than five hundred dollars. Such times as these were indeed hard for poor young men. We did not have many carpets or costly furniture and servants; but as winter approached times seemed to grow harder and harder. No work could be had. [...]
Chauncey Jerome, History of the American Clock Business (Source 2: a clockmaker remembers 1816, written in 1860) (1860). Public domain (published 1860). Source text.
1Volcanic Disturbances of Atmospheric Temperature Since 1750.—It must be distinctly remembered that the earlier temperature records, because of their limited number, if for no other reason, give only the general trend of world temperatures. Again, the record back to 1750 of even violent volcanic eruptions is necessarily incomplete; and, besides, not all great eruptions decrease the surface temperature—only those that drive a lot of dust into the isothermal region, or very high atmosphere, and even then decrease it perceptibly in only those regions, usually extensive and at times world-wide, over which the dust spreads. Pronounced and long-continued sky phenomena, therefore, of the type that followed the eruption of Krakatoa, furnish the best evidence of volcanic violence in the sense here used. Finally, there can be no particular test save where the temperature is low in comparison with that which the number of sun-spots would indicate. Obviously, then, no matter how close the actual relation between the phenomena may be, the errors and the incompleteness of the recorded data would prevent the discovery of more than a general relation.
2Of course, it will naturally occur to one to ask about special cases, such as the cold years of 1783-4-5, and, in particular, 1816, the famous "year without a summer," "poverty year," or "eighteen hundred and froze-to-death." The first of these, 1783-5, followed, as already explained, the great explosion of Asama in 1783, while the second, the "year without a summer," that was cold the world over, followed the eruption of Tomboro, [...]
W. J. Humphreys, Physics of the Air (Source 4: a scientist links 1816 to a volcano, 1920) (1920). Public domain (published 1920). Source text.
Part 3: Three moves. Show Diagram 1. (1) Match: does this piece of evidence support exactly my claim, or a nearby claim? (2) Multiply: can I find evidence in a second source, and are the two sources independent? (3) Mark the limits: what can this evidence not show? Then think aloud through the four examples.
History and geography: a claim about the weather (Sources 1 and 2)
Claim: "The summer of 1816 was unusually cold in New England." What evidence from more than one source supports it, and what are its limits?
Result: Evidence: Perley calls it "The coldest summer known to have been experienced in New England" (Source 1, paragraph 1). Jerome, who lived through it, remembers that in June "my hands got so cold that I was obliged to lay down my tools and put on a pair of mittens" (Source 2, paragraph 1). Two sources by different writers point the same way. Limits: both are from New England, and neither gives a full set of temperature readings for the summer.
Economics: a claim about crops (Sources 1 and 2)
Claim: "Corn was scarce in New England in 1816." What evidence supports it, and what are its limits?
Result: Evidence: Perley reports "the scarcity and consequent great cost of corn" in New Hampshire (Source 1, paragraph 1). In Connecticut, Jerome writes, "Not half enough corn ripened that year to furnish seed for the next" (Source 2, paragraph 1). Limits: neither source gives a price or a harvest number, so the claim can say "scarce" but not "how scarce." Jerome's line is one man's estimate for his own area.
Earth science: a claim about a cause (Sources 1 and 4)
Claim: "A volcanic eruption caused the cold summer of 1816." What does the evidence on this page support?
Result: Evidence: in 1920 the scientist W. J. Humphreys wrote that the "year without a summer" "followed the eruption of Tomboro" (Tambora, in today's Indonesia) (Source 4, paragraph 2). Limits: this is one source, written more than a century after 1816. Perley, writing in 1891, says that about the cause "no opinion has gained much ground" (Source 1, paragraph 2), so the volcano explanation came later. A careful claim names its support: "A 1920 scientist linked the cold summer to a volcanic eruption."
History: a claim that goes too far (Source 1)
Claim: "Every family in New England went hungry in 1816." Does the evidence support it?
Result: No. Perley writes that "many of the farmers" were "brought to want" (Source 1, paragraph 1), which supports "many," not "every." The claim also has only one source. A supported version: "Many New England farmers fell into need in 1816, according to an 1891 history."
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read Source 3 together; it is another part of Perley's chapter. Then pairs read Source 5, three claims written by invented students. For each claim they answer: Does the evidence match the claim?How many independent sources?One limit, and a better version of the claim if needed.
1June at length came, and although there were some excessively hot days in the month, it was as disagreeable as May had been, perhaps even more so. [...] On the fifth of June, the heat was extreme in every part of New England, but the next day was uncomfortably cold, and travellers suffered from the severity of the weather. At Bangor, Me., the night of the fifth was so warm that a blanket over one was sufficient for warmth, and at Hallowell it was the warmest day of the season. [...] At Chester, N. H., on the fifth the heat increased to eighty-eight degrees above zero, and on the next day fell to forty. On the morning of the sixth, at the latter place as well as in other sections, ice formed to the thickness of an eighth of an inch on bodies of standing water. The weather was cold and squally, and snow fell in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, and in Cheshire, Peru, Windsor and other mountain towns in Massachusetts. In Maine the change came suddenly, with squalls from the northwest, and snow and hail fell for one and a half hours, the flakes being so large that when they struck the ground they spread out two inches and a half in diameter. The frost and cold chilled and killed the martins and other birds, and froze the ground, cutting down corn and potatoes, and compelling workmen to put on great coats and mittens in order to keep warm. [...]
2Snow fell again on the seventh of June sufficient to cover the ground at Newton, Mass., and at Hopkinton, N. H., it was four inches deep on a level. Snow also fell in Hallowell, Me.
Sidney Perley, Historic Storms of New England, chapter LIII (Source 3: June 1816, written in 1891) (1891). Public domain (published 1891). Source text.
1These three claims were written by invented students for this page. Each student used Sources 1-4.
2Ana's claim: "In June 1816, the weather in New England swung between heat and cold." Her evidence: Source 3 says "On the fifth of June, the heat was extreme in every part of New England, but the next day was uncomfortably cold," and Source 2 says that on the tenth of June clothes left outside overnight were "frozen stiff as in winter."
3Ben's claim: "The cold summer of 1816 was caused by spots on the sun." His evidence: Source 1 says that "A large number of the people of that time believed" the spots made the earth cooler.
4Cam's claim: "The cold summer made life hard for workers as well as farmers." His evidence: Source 2 says that as winter came, "No work could be had," and Source 1 says that "many of the farmers" were "brought to want."
SVHS (invented scenario written for this page), Three Student Claims (Source 5: invented claims for the guided practice). Original passage written for this page.
Answer key.Ana (paragraph 2): the evidence matches. She uses two sources by different writers, and both describe sudden cold in June. Limit: Perley's sentence speaks of all of New England in general terms, while Jerome describes his own household in Connecticut, so the two do not describe the same place or the same day. Ben (paragraph 3) is the weak sample on purpose: his evidence shows what people believed, not what caused the cold. Perley himself says no explanation had "gained much ground." A better claim: "Many people in 1816 blamed the cold on spots on the sun." Cam (paragraph 4): partly matched. Source 2 supports the part about workers and Source 1 the part about farmers, so each half of his claim rests on one source. Limit: Jerome describes his own search for work in one town.
Independent Practice10-15 minutes
Each student writes one new claim that answers the compelling question, different from the worked examples and Source 5. Under it, they list two pieces of evidence from two different sources (quoted and cited by paragraph), and two limitations. Last, they rewrite the claim so it says no more than the evidence supports. Partners trade and check one thing: does every piece of evidence match the claim exactly?
Closure10 minutes
Exit ticket: Finish the sentence with an example from today: "Two sources are better than one, but only if..."
Teacher note on the sources: Sources 1 and 3 are typed from the page scans of Perley's 1891 book and checked against its OCR text; Source 2 is quoted exactly from the Project Gutenberg text of Jerome's 1860 book; Source 4 is typed from the scans of Humphreys's 1920 book. Humphreys spells the volcano "Tomboro"; today it is usually spelled Tambora. The lesson takes no position on present-day climate debates; it uses 1816 only to practice the evidence skill.
Quiz passage. Questions 11-14, 19 and 20 of the quiz use Source 6, an invented town's bike lane.
1This scenario is invented for this page. The town, the street, the people and all the numbers are invented.
2In the invented town of Fairview, the city council painted a bike lane on Oak Street in May 2024. A year later, a student named Rosa asks: "Did the bike lane make Oak Street safer for riders?" She finds four sources.
3Source 6A, police crash reports: 14 crashes involving bicycles on Oak Street from June 2023 through May 2024, and 9 from June 2024 through May 2025. The reports include only crashes that someone reported to the police.
4Source 6B, the city's bike counter on Oak Street, which began counting in June 2024: an average of 220 riders each weekday during its first year. There is no count from before the lane was painted.
5Source 6C, a survey Rosa gave to 40 riders at the high school bike rack: 31 said they feel safer on Oak Street than before the lane, 6 said they feel about the same, and 3 said they feel less safe.
6Source 6D, a newspaper story that quotes the owner of a shop on Oak Street: "Since the lane went in, I see a lot more kids riding past my window."
SVHS (invented scenario written for this page), The Oak Street Bike Lane (Source 6: an invented scenario for the quiz). Original passage written for this page.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a three-box organizer: "My claim," "Evidence 1 (source, paragraph)," "Evidence 2 (a different source, paragraph)," with a fourth box "What this can't show"
Provide limitation starters: "This source only covers ___." "This was written ___ years after." "This tells what people believed, not ___."
Read Source 2 aloud and stop after each sentence to ask: what claim could this sentence support?
For Advanced Students
Source 2 and Source 3 both describe snow on June 7. Explain what you would need to know to decide whether Perley might have used accounts like Jerome's, and why that matters for independence
Write a claim that needs all four sources, and explain what each one adds
Plan what new kind of source, such as a farmer's account book or a daily weather diary, would most strengthen one of today's claims
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong work states a specific claim, backs it with evidence from at least two sources, cites each by paragraph, and names at least one real limitation of the evidence. Watch for four errors: evidence that supports a nearby claim instead of the stated one; two quotations from the same source counted as two sources; treating what people believed as proof of a cause; and big words like "every" or "always" that the evidence cannot support.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Evidence Match
15 minPairs
Each pair gets five claim cards. For each card, the pair looks through Sources 1, 2 and 4 for evidence, writes the source and paragraph, and labels the card two sources, one source only, or not supported. Then they add one limit for each card.
The Five Claim Cards
People had nicknames for the year 1816.
Some workers could not find jobs in late 1816.
Crops did badly in New England in 1816.
Early temperature records are limited.
The cold of 1816 caused many families to move west.
Answer Key for the Teacher
Card 1: two sources, Source 1, paragraph 1 and Source 4, paragraph 2. Limit: Humphreys wrote 29 years after Perley and may have learned the names from books like his, so the two may not be independent.
Card 2: one source only, Source 2, paragraph 1. Limit: one man in one town.
Card 3: two sources, Source 1, paragraph 1 and Jerome's line about corn in Source 2. Limit: no harvest numbers.
Card 4: one source, Source 4, paragraph 1, though it is an expert describing the records.
Card 5: not supported. No source on this page mentions families moving west. A student would need new sources.
2
Limitation Detective: The River Bend Flood
15 minGroups of 3
A practice set in geography, with four sources invented for this activity about an invented town. Groups decide what claim each source can support and write one limitation for each. Then they write the strongest claim that uses at least two of the sources.
The Four Invented Sources
A letter from a mill owner, April 1890: "The new railroad bridge blocked the river and drowned my mill."
The town's rain gauge record: 4.1 inches of rain fell from April 10 to April 12, 1890.
A town history written in 1940: "The flood of 1890 was the worst in the town's history."
A newspaper map printed April 15, 1890, shading the streets that were under water.
Answer Key for the Teacher
Letter: supports "a mill owner blamed the bridge." Limit: one person with a reason to blame someone else; no measurement.
Rain gauge: supports "heavy rain fell just before the flood." Limit: one gauge in one spot; it does not show where the water went.
Town history: supports "people in 1940 remembered it as very bad." Limit: written 50 years later, no sources named, and "worst ever" covers only the years the town knew.
Map: supports "these streets flooded." Limit: drawn quickly for a newspaper; it may miss streets.
Strong combined claim: "After more than four inches of rain in three days, much of River Bend flooded in April 1890 (rain gauge, newspaper map); one mill owner blamed the new bridge, but no source here tests his claim."
3
Claim Tightening Relay
10-15 minGroups of 4
Each group gets a claim that is too big: "In 1816 the whole world froze and everyone starved." The sheet goes around the group four times. Student 1 crosses out one word the evidence cannot support. Student 2 adds evidence from one source. Student 3 adds evidence from a second source. Student 4 adds one limit and rewrites the claim.
What to Listen For
Students who notice that "whole world" and "everyone" go far beyond Sources 1-3, which cover New England, and students who ask whether two sources are really independent. Any final claim is acceptable if every word is backed by the cited evidence.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
1 diagrams
Diagram 1: The Evidence Ladder
Each step up adds support for a claim. Two quotations from the same source stay on step 2, because they still come from one maker. Even the top step has limits, which a careful claim names.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D3.3.6-8 Homework: Testing Claims about 1816
Directions: Use Sources 1-4 (printed in the Direct Instruction and Guided Practice sections). For each problem, quote your evidence and cite the source and paragraph. Remember: two quotations from the same source count as one source.
Part 1: Finding Evidence in More than One Source (Problems 1-3)
Claim: "People in 1816 tried to explain the strange weather." Find all the evidence on this page that comes from people of 1816 themselves. How many sources is that? Explain why Source 4 does not count for this claim.
Claim: "The cold of 1816 hurt animals as well as crops." Find evidence from two different sources and explain how each one supports the claim.
Claim: "1816 was the coldest summer ever recorded in New England, before or since." Find the evidence that comes closest to supporting it, and explain what part of the claim it cannot support.
Part 2: Noting Limitations (Problems 4-6)
Jerome wrote Source 2 in 1860. Explain two limitations this creates for using Source 2 as evidence about the weather in June 1816.
Humphreys writes that the record of eruptions back to 1750 "is necessarily incomplete." Explain in your own words how this limits a claim about volcanoes and cold years.
Write a paragraph of 120-150 words that answers the compelling question, "Why was 1816 such a hard year in New England?" Use evidence from at least three sources, cite each one, and name two limitations of your evidence.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Claim
Specific and no bigger than the evidence
Clear but too broad
Missing or unclear
Evidence
Matches the claim and comes from two or more sources, quoted and cited
Matches the claim but from one source, or not cited
Does not match the claim
Limitations
Names real limits such as time gap, coverage or independence
Names a vague limit ("it might be wrong")
No limits
Reasoning
Explains how each piece of evidence supports the claim
Lists evidence without explaining
No explanation
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-10 use Sources 1-4 (Sources 1, 2 and 4 are in the Direct Instruction section and Source 3 is in the Guided Practice section). Questions 11-14, 19 and 20 use Source 6, the invented Oak Street bike lane (in the Closure section). Questions 15-18 use Sources 1-5. For each multiple-choice question, choose the best answer. For short-answer questions, write three to five sentences.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which pair gives evidence from two different sources about snow on June 7, 1816?
Answer: C
Jerome writes that on the seventh of June "It snowed about an hour that day" (Source 2, paragraph 1), and Perley reports "Snow fell again on the seventh of June" (Source 3, paragraph 2). Two writers, two places, same day. A and B each use one source twice. D fails because Source 4 says nothing about June 7.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Jerome says he did a big carpentry job in 1816 for eighty-five dollars, work that "could not now be done" for less than five hundred. What is the main limit of this as evidence that pay was very low in 1816?
Answer: B
Jerome compares his 1816 pay with prices "now," in 1860 (Source 2, paragraph 1). Prices and wages change over 44 years, so the comparison mixes two different times. A is wrong: he did the work himself. C has no support: Source 2 never mentions Baltimore or places the job outside his home area. D is not in Source 1.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Jerome writes that men hoeing corn would "get in the sun by a fence to warm themselves." Which claim does this best support?
Answer: A
Men warming themselves in the sun while hoeing shows cold working conditions in summer (Source 2, paragraph 1). B stretches one scene to "every farmer." C contradicts Jerome's point about corn. D reads too much into the fence.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Perley writes that the sunspots "were seen by the naked eye for several days, beginning on the third of May." Which claim does this evidence support?
Answer: C
The sentence reports when and how the spots were seen (Source 1, paragraph 2). A confuses what was seen with what caused the cold. B and D go beyond the sentence, which says the spots were seen "for a few days only" when they reappeared.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Perley says that in New Hampshire "the people used mackerel as a substitute" for pork. Which claim does this support?
Answer: A
Little pork was fattened because corn was scarce, so people ate fish instead (Source 1, paragraph 1). B and C are not stated. D generalizes from New Hampshire to every town, which the evidence cannot support.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Perley also writes that "in the northwest section of New England a severe drought prevailed." Why does this matter for the claim "The cold alone ruined the crops of 1816"?
Answer: D
Perley says the drought "added to the disastrous effects of the season" (Source 1, paragraph 1), so "the cold alone" claims too much. A and C are not in the source. B is wrong: a second cause does not cancel the evidence of cold.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3 reports that on the morning of June 6 "ice formed to the thickness of an eighth of an inch on bodies of standing water." Which claim is this evidence for?
Answer: B
The sentence names Chester and "other sections" (Source 3, paragraph 1), so it supports thin ice in some places. A turns thin ice on still water into frozen rivers everywhere. C and D are not in the source.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3 says that at Chester, N. H., the temperature reached eighty-eight degrees on June 5 and fell to forty the next day. What would you most want to know before using these numbers as strong evidence?
Answer: A
Perley gives the numbers without saying who measured them or how (Source 3, paragraph 1). Knowing the observer and instrument would show how much to trust them. B is already answered ("N. H."). C and D have nothing to do with whether the readings are accurate.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Humphreys writes that "not all great eruptions decrease the surface temperature." What does this mean for the claim "Every big volcanic eruption causes a cold year"?
Answer: D
He says only eruptions that "drive a lot of dust into the isothermal region, or very high atmosphere" cool the surface (Source 4, paragraph 1), so not every big eruption does. A reverses this. B and C are not what he says.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Humphreys calls 1816 a year "that was cold the world over." Why can't Sources 1-3 confirm this part of his claim?
Answer: B
Humphreys's phrase "cold the world over" (Source 4, paragraph 2) covers the whole world, but Perley and Jerome report weather in New England towns, so they cannot show what happened elsewhere. A is wrong: Sources 1-3 were written in 1860 and 1891, before 1920. C contradicts them. D is wrong: they are real sources.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Rosa claims: "The bike lane made Oak Street safer." Which statement best describes her evidence?
Answer: A
Fewer crashes were reported (Source 6A, paragraph 3) and most surveyed riders feel safer (Source 6C, paragraph 5), but the crash reports miss unreported crashes and the survey covers one group. B ignores those limits. C is wrong: 6A and 6C are about safety. D is wrong: only 6A counts crashes.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
What is a limitation of Source 6A, the police crash reports?
Answer: C
The source itself says the reports "include only crashes that someone reported to the police" (Source 6, paragraph 3), so small crashes may be missing. A dismisses the source without a reason. B is wrong: two matching one-year periods are a fair comparison. D is wrong: the counts are for Oak Street.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Why can't Source 6B show that more people ride on Oak Street since the lane was painted?
Answer: D
The counter "began counting in June 2024," after the lane was painted, so there is nothing to compare with (Source 6, paragraph 4). A, B and C are not what the source says; it counts riders on weekdays and belongs to the city.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 6C, what share of the surveyed riders said they feel safer?
Answer: C
31 of 40 riders is 31 ÷ 40 = 0.775, or 77.5 percent (Source 6, paragraph 5). A uses the count as if it were a percent. B uses the number surveyed. D adds the 6 who feel "about the same" (37 of 40), which is not the same claim.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
A classmate claims: "It snowed every day in June 1816." Use Sources 2 and 3 to show what is wrong with this claim, and write a better claim the evidence supports.
Model answer: Perley says that "there were some excessively hot days in the month" (Source 3, paragraph 1), so it did not snow every day. Jerome remembers that on June 7 it snowed "about an hour," which is a short fall on one day. A better claim: "Snow fell on several days in June 1816 in parts of New England, between some very hot days." Rubric: full credit for evidence from both sources against "every day" and a revised claim that fits the evidence; partial credit for one source or no revised claim.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Jerome writes, "There was ice and snow in every month in the year." Perley writes, "There were frost and snow in all the summer months." Do these two sources confirm each other? Explain what you would need to know to be sure they are independent.
Model answer: They point the same way, but they are not exactly the same claim: Jerome says every month of the year, Perley says the summer months. Perley wrote in 1891, after Jerome's book of 1860, so I would need to know where Perley got his information. If he used memoirs like Jerome's, the two are not fully independent. Rubric: full credit for noting the difference in the claims and the question of independence (who used whom); partial credit for one of these.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Use Sources 2 and 3 to support the claim "Some people wore winter clothing during the summer of 1816." Then explain one difference between the two sources that affects how much each one can show.
Model answer: Jerome saw men pitching quoits on July 4 "with thick overcoats on" (Source 2, paragraph 1), and Perley reports the cold "compelling workmen to put on great coats and mittens" (Source 3, paragraph 1). Jerome was an eyewitness but wrote from memory 44 years later about his own town; Perley gathered reports from many places but does not say whose. Rubric: full credit for evidence from both sources and a difference tied to what each can show; partial credit for the evidence only.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
In Source 5, Cam's claim rests on one source for each half. Find a second source on this page for either half of his claim, or explain why none exists for that half.
Model answer: For the farmers, Source 3 adds that a June frost "froze the ground, cutting down corn and potatoes" (Source 3, paragraph 1), which shows crops failing in a second source. For the workers, no second source exists here: Sources 1, 3 and 4 do not discuss jobs, so Cam should say the worker half rests on one memoir. Rubric: full credit for a correct second source for the farmer half or a correct explanation for the worker half, with a citation; partial credit for an answer without a citation.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Write a claim about the Oak Street bike lane that the evidence in Source 6 supports. Cite two sources and name one limitation of each.
Model answer: "In the year after the lane was painted, fewer bicycle crashes were reported on Oak Street, and most riders surveyed at the high school said they feel safer." Source 6A shows 9 reported crashes, down from 14; it misses crashes no one reported. Source 6C shows 31 of 40 riders feel safer; it surveyed only riders at one school, and feelings are not the same as measured safety. Rubric: full credit for a claim no bigger than the evidence, two cited sources and a real limit for each; partial credit for a claim with one source or no limits.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
What one new piece of evidence would most strengthen Rosa's claim that the bike lane made Oak Street safer? Explain which limitation it would fix.
Model answer: A count of riders from before the lane. With riders counted in both years, Rosa could compare crashes per rider, not just total crashes, and see whether fewer crashes came from safer riding or from fewer riders. It fixes the limitation of Source 6B, which "began counting in June 2024." Other strong answers: hospital records of bike injuries, or a survey of riders across town, not one school. Rubric: full credit for a specific source and the limitation it fixes; partial credit for a source without the limitation.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D3.3.6-8 mean?
D3.3.6-8 asks middle school students to identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations. A student backs a claim with evidence from more than one source and says what that evidence cannot show.
What is an evidentiary limitation?
It is something the evidence cannot show. Common limits are a time gap between the event and the source, coverage of only one place or group, missing numbers, a writer's reason to exaggerate, or two sources that copied from each other.
Do two quotations from the same source count as two sources?
No. Two quotations from one book still come from one maker, so they share the same limits. D3.3.6-8 asks for evidence drawn from multiple sources, ideally ones that are independent of each other.
How many sources should a middle school claim use?
At least two for an important claim, and more when the claim is large. Just as important, the claim should be no bigger than the evidence: a source about one town supports a claim about that town, not a whole region.
Why does this D3.3.6-8 lesson use the cold summer of 1816?
The topic is a vehicle for the skill. The sources include an eyewitness memoir, a history that gathered many reports, and a scientist's later explanation, so students can practice combining different kinds of evidence and naming each one's limits.
Is evidence with limitations bad evidence?
No. All evidence has limits. Naming them makes a claim more honest and more convincing, and it shows what new evidence would help.
How should I grade claims and evidence?
Use four criteria: a specific claim, evidence that matches it from at least two sources, cited paragraphs, and at least one real limitation. A student can earn full credit for a careful, modest claim.
What mistakes do students make with D3.3.6-8?
Common mistakes include evidence that fits a nearby claim instead of the stated one, counting one source twice, treating what people believed as proof of what happened, and using words such as "every" or "always" that the evidence does not support.
How does D3.3.6-8 connect to writing?
It is the evidence step of an argument. D3.4.6-8 asks students to develop claims and counterclaims, and WHST.6-8.1 asks them to support claims with logical reasoning and relevant evidence.
How does D3.3.6-8 change in high school?
In D3.3.9-12, students draw evidence directly and substantively from multiple sources to detect inconsistencies in the evidence and to revise or strengthen claims.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D3.3.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
D3.2.6-8Prerequisite
Evaluate the credibility of a source by its relevance and intended use
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
