SBQ Practice: Reliability Skills
Types of reliability questions include:
- How reliable is this…..?
- Do you trust/accept/believe….?
- Does this source prove…………?
For reliability questions, what we are seeking to do is to CHECK the reliability of the BASE source stated in the question. There are 2 main reliability-check tests.
- Cross reference
- Critical analysis of provenance looking at its purpose
With these 2 tests in mind, there are a few steps that we should take when tackling such questions:
Step 1: Answer the Question! Is it reliable or not? Do we trust it or not?
Step 2: State the STAND of the base source. (I.e. what does the base source say about the ISSUE at hand? If the question does not state the issue to be examined, we must define the issue we are testing the source on.)
Step 3: Do a cross reference to support the base source (if we say it’s reliable) or to contradict the source (if we say it is not reliable)
Step 4: Do another cross reference to contradict the base source if we did a supported cross reference in step 3. If not we can skip this step.
Step 5: Do a critical analysis of provenance looking at its purpose. How to do this?
- First determine its purpose (A.K.D.)
- then ask ourselves, through its purpose, does the creator (provenance) have a hidden agenda to hide the truth? Or an incentive to be biased? If he does, explain the hidden agenda/incentive and thus this makes the source unreliable.
- On the other hand, looking at its purpose and the provenance, the source is not biased (two-sided), this would then make the source reliable.
A format that can be used is as below:
E.g. Source A is reliable in showing……………………………………………………………. This is seen in the source where……………………………………………………………………………. Implying that…………………………..
Furthermore Source B supports it. This is seen in source B where…… implying that……
However, it may not be that reliable as source C contradicts it. This is seen in C where…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… implying ………………..
Looking at its purpose, it may not be reliable. Source A’s purpose is to let the audience know that ………message + evidence……………….. Through this the author hopes to convince the audience so that they will…..outcome/do…………Thus looking at its purpose, the author has an incentive to be biased as ….explain the incentive……. therefore making it unreliable
Some other important points:
- Honestly there is no one fixed format. And sometimes trying to stick to one format may be confusing and even illogical. For example, sometimes we may not even need to examine the source based on its’ purpose and critical analysis of provenance as the exam setter may deem the source as having no significant purpose.
- But rest assured that in any reliability question, there will always be marks rewarded for cross reference. Therefore more importantly, that means we must do CROSS reference!!!!
- But before cross reference, we must let the marker know what does the BASE source say first. Above all, this is the principle thing: the base source inference!
- Ultimately, we should reach a point where we understand and apply the principles of reliability tests. The principles are as below:
- Look at the base source and ask ourselves what it says regarding the issue we are examining it on
- Then see whether the other sources support or contradict the base source regarding the issue
- Finally, ask ourselves does the base source has enough information (the message and the provenance) to let us deduce the purpose with confidence. If it does, go ahead with the purpose test.
To want to know the other essential Source-Based Skills needed to excel in Social Studies, it is found under the RESOURCES page.