Humanities Aut 1 · 2026–27 · Enquiry: How do provenance, content and context affect what a source tells, suggests and cannot prove?
| Key Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Tells | Explicit content of a source |
| Suggests | Anchored inference from detail |
| Withholds | Expected content that is absent |
| Provenance | Who made it, when, why |
| Context | What surrounded the source's making |
| Selection | What the maker chose to include |
1) What is an interval?
2) Name two types of source.
3) 'The photo shows ships.' Shows or suggests?
4) Provenance starts with which three questions?
1) Use one interval fact from Week 1.
2) What's the difference between what a source TELLS and SUGGESTS?
3) What is context for a source?
4) Does bias make a source useless?
1) Why are intervals arguments?
2) What might a proud town postcard WITHHOLD?
3) Provenance vs content — which matters more?
4) Rank: tells / suggests / withholds.
Key Question: A postcard, a health inspector's report and a resident's letter all describe the same 1890s street. They barely agree. Who's lying? Maybe nobody.
Groups: 🗣️ TELLS, 🤔 SUGGESTS, 🤐 WITHHOLDS. Sort: The street has gas lamps, A tram runs down the middle, The town wanted to look modern, Someone expected buyers for this view, The overcrowding the inspector found, Any sign of the fever outbreak, Shops suggest money moving, The strike two streets over
Draw lines to match:
🖼️ Sale postcard · 📋 Health report · ✉️ Letter home · 📰 Local paper · 🗂️ Census return · 📓 Private diary
Reassurance — worry softened for family · Standardised facts, no feelings · Candid — no audience expected · Problems foregrounded — reform needs evidence · Best angle, worst withheld · What sells locally + advertiser-friendly
tells, suggests, withholds, postcard, purpose, because
"It tells us…" | "It suggests… because…" | "It withholds ___ because it was made to ___"
Layers: tells / suggests+anchor / withholds. Provenance: who, when, why. Prediction: "Because it was made to ___, I expect it to show ___ and hide ___." Job: what enquiry suits it?
"The sources disagree on ___" | "Both are true of something: ___ is true of ___, while ___" | "For the enquiry ___, the stronger source is ___ because ___"
🗣️ TELLS — what it states outright. 🤔 SUGGESTS — a fair inference, anchored to a detail. 🤐 WITHHOLDS — what you would expect and do not find.
WHO made it? insider or outsider, paid or unpaid, powerful or powerless
WHEN was it made? before, during or after the events
WHERE from? local voice or distant observer
WHY was it made? sell, reform, reassure, record
| Source | What its purpose predicts |
|---|---|
| 🖼️ Sale postcard | Best angle, worst withheld |
| 📋 Health report | Problems foregrounded — reform needs evidence |
| ✉️ Letter home | Reassurance — worry softened for family |
| 📰 Local paper | What sells locally, and advertiser-friendly |
| 🗂️ Census return | Standardised facts, no feelings |
| 📓 Private diary | Candid — no audience expected |
🛑 HOW DO I SPOT A WITHHOLD? I CANNOT SEE WHAT IS NOT THERE.
Correct — so do not look. Predict first, then check.
1. Ask: given the date and place, what would I EXPECT to find?
2. Now look for it. Missing? That is your withhold.
1890s Middlesbrough: expect overcrowding, fever, hard work. A postcard shows none of it. That gap is the finding.
❓ IT IS BIASED. DOES THAT MEAN IT IS A LIE?
No. Bias tells you what the maker WANTED, and that is evidence in itself.
A boastful advert may be weak proof of working conditions and strong proof that employers were competing hard for workers.
So never write “this source is biased so it is useless”. Write “weak for ___, strong for ___”.
🔤 Words I might need: provenance · tells · suggests · withholds · inference · purpose · selection · reliability
Three Layers
1) Sort the 6 strips: TELLS / SUGGESTS / WITHHOLDS.
2) "It withholds ___ because it was made to ___."
Layered Analysis
1) Tells (2):
2) Suggests + anchor (2):
3) Withholds (1) + why:
4) Provenance → prediction:
5) What job is this source good for?
Cross-Examination
1) Source A layers (brief):
2) Source B layers (brief):
3) The disagreement, named precisely:
4) Reconciliation via purpose ('both true of something'):
5) Verdict: which source for which enquiry?
1) Name the three layers of a source.
2) What does a sale postcard likely withhold?
3) Provenance asks who, when and…?
Space → Voice → Audience → Influence. The adult’s first job is Space: regulate before you educate.
| Space | The Archive Table is open access — handle any source pack, any order, magnifiers out. |
| Voice | Post one 'withholds' discovery on the board — absences you spotted that others missed. |
| Audience | Your reconciliation paragraphs get compiled into the class Source Guide used by next term's group. |
| Influence | Choose Week 3's causation focus: which community's motives do we investigate first? Class ballot. |
Closing the loop: this one ends on paper — your own hand, or your words scribed by an adult. Saying it aloud starts the loop; writing it is what closes it. Pass is always allowed.
What I said, and what it changed:
Keep with your book / folder.
| Pupil name: | Date: |
| WWW (What Went Well): | |
| EBI (Even Better If): | |
| Level worked at: Supported / Standard / Stretch | Evidence filed: Yes / Not yet |
| Authorship — what I chose or decided myself: | |
| Support given — prepared / scribed / modelled / hand-over-hand: | |
| Pupil response — my next step: | |
1) Why is an absence sometimes evidence?
2) Does bias ruin a source? Explain.
3) Which source for rent levels: postcard or census? Why?
1) How does provenance PREDICT selection? Example.
2) Two honest sources disagree. Give the reconciliation move.
3) Design the ideal source pair for studying 1890s housing.
GROW Humanities · Week 2 · Source Detectives
Add your class once — names stay on this device only, and every Made by Matt lesson on it shares the list. Band each pupil so questions are tier-matched.
Pass is always allowed — passing still counts as taking part.