esperanto_story1-10, Exercise 1: A sample claim, "Gaelic was banned in Scottish schools"

Model answer (check the details):

1. Who says so? Repeated in popular accounts, by campaigners and in family memories. Some are first-hand, many are retellings.
2. When written? Accounts range from the period itself to modern summaries.
3. Exactly what? Rewrite with a scope: banned by law? by a school board? in which years and places?
4. What would show it false? No legal ban found in education acts, with only practice and attitudes documented.
5. Independent support? Education acts, school board records, inspectors' reports and historians' studies.
6. Careful version (to be filled from the sources): "Education policy from the 19th century favoured English, and Gaelic had little or no place in many schools. Whether it was formally banned should be checked in the legislation and local records."

Care: the point of the method is to find out, not to prejudge. The careful version may be stronger or weaker than the slogan.