Track Where a Record Came From
Separate an original observation, later copy, and editorial addition.
Supplied materials
- Complete original fictional source chain: A, bridge keeper’s notebook, May 6: “I opened the gate at 8 am.” B, town newsletter, May 9: “According to the keeper’s May 6 notebook, the gate opened at 8 am.” C, exhibit caption written years later: “The bridge opened for the first time at 8 am on May 6.” Caption author used B only; no other record is supplied.
Learn the idea
Provenance means a record’s origin and path through later copies or collections. Trace who created a statement, when, and what later writers relied on. A contemporary notebook and a later newsletter can be different documents without being independent observations. A chain of copying may preserve a statement, introduce errors, or add interpretations.
Compare the wording at each stage. The keeper reports opening a gate at 8 am; nothing says it was the bridge’s first opening. The newsletter credits that notebook. The caption adds “for the first time,” an interpretation absent from the earlier wording. Preserve the narrow reported action while marking the added claim as unsupported by this chain.
- Draw arrows A→B→C showing the stated information flow.
- Record each creator, document date, and cited source.
- Underline the words present in C but absent from A.
- Write one claim traceable to A and one claim requiring another independent record.
See the method in action
“The notebook reports a May 6 gate opening at 8 am. B repeats it and C depends on B, so this is one observation chain. C’s claim of a first-ever bridge opening needs evidence not supplied by A or B.”
Check your reasoning
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See the answer and explanation
B depends on A, and C adds a first-opening claim not in A.
B explicitly credits A; C used B only. The initial source describes opening a gate, not the first-ever opening of the bridge.
Take it further
Changed source: add D, independently kept inspection report dated May 4: “The gate was open when I arrived at 9 am.” Model reasoning: “D supports a reported earlier open gate, weakening the caption’s first-opening claim for May 6. It still does not establish the bridge’s original construction or official opening date.”
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