Two Sources, Three Questions: The School Garden Report
Ms. Whitfield's class is writing a report on their school garden and has two sources. Source A is a journal entry by fourth grader Nia: "October 3 - We planted twelve tomato plants today. The hose broke, so we carried water in buckets from the art room sink. It took all afternoon. My shoes are ruined." Source B is the school newsletter: "This fall, students planted twelve tomato plants and harvested 40 pounds of tomatoes before the first frost. When the garden hose broke in October, students watered every plant by hand for three weeks." The report must answer three questions: how many tomato plants were planted, how the plants were watered after the hose broke, and how much was harvested. Nia wants to use only her journal because "it's the real one." The newsletter was written by the principal's assistant, who was never in the garden. The class is deciding which source to trust for each question and how to put both to work.
1. For each of the three report questions, say whether the answer appears in Source A, Source B, both, or neither, and name the exact detail each source supplies.
Read the worked answer
| Report question | Available in | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| How many plants were planted? | Both | A: "We planted twelve tomato plants today." B: "students planted twelve tomato plants." The numbers agree, which raises confidence. |
| How were plants watered after the hose broke? | Both | A: "we carried water in buckets from the art room sink." B: "students watered every plant by hand." |
| How much was harvested? | B only | "harvested 40 pounds of tomatoes before the first frost." A never mentions a harvest. |
Reasoning to teach: the sources overlap on two questions and split on the third. Overlap is not wasted - when two independent accounts agree on "twelve," the report can state it firmly. The split is where source choice matters. Nia's journal covers one October afternoon and stops; the newsletter covers the whole fall. Match the source to the time span the question covers, not to who seems more trustworthy.
2. Nia says her journal is better because it is firsthand. Evaluate that claim: what does firsthand add here, and what does it not add? Give a reason a report might still use Source B.
Read the worked answer
What firsthand adds: sensory and specific detail that a later summary loses - the buckets, the art room sink, the ruined shoes, the lost afternoon. It also adds authenticity of effort: the reader believes the work because someone was tired doing it.
What firsthand does not add: coverage and totals. Nia was one student on one day. She does not know the harvest weight, and she does not know what happened in the three weeks after her entry. Being present does not make a person omniscient.
Why the report still needs Source B: the poundage question cannot be answered from Nia's experience at all. Source B also covers the full season, which allows the phrase "for three weeks" instead of "one afternoon."
The judgment: firsthand sources are better for texture; compiled sources are better for scope and numbers. A careful writer uses each for what it can actually establish, rather than ranking sources on a single scale.
3. A classmate drafts: "Students watered the plants by hand because the hose broke." Which source or sources support each part, and what wording would make the report accurate to both accounts?
Read the worked answer
Part by part. "Watered the plants by hand" - Source A supports it with buckets from the art room sink; Source B says "by hand." "Because the hose broke" - both support it; A names the broken hose directly, and B says "when the garden hose broke in October." The causal link is an inference, but a safe one, because A shows the bucket method starting the same day the hose broke.
Where drafts usually go wrong: pulling "for three weeks" from B without noticing that A describes only one afternoon, or writing "students carried buckets from the art room" as though every student did it every day.
Accurate wording: "When the garden hose broke in October, students watered every plant by hand, carrying buckets from the art room sink, and kept this up for three weeks." That sentence attributes the detail correctly and keeps the time span attached to the source that actually knows it.