To verify a case fact, confirm three things before you use it: where it happened, when it was recorded and who published it. A fact that passes all three can go into your notes. A fact that fails any one of them is a lead, not evidence.
This skill opens case-study reasoning because every later lesson depends on notes you can trust.
What does a verified fact look like?
A verified fact has a short label attached. The label names the place, the date or period, and the source, and it says whether the figure is a total, a rate or an estimate.
You can keep this label in a table. The evidence and case-study ledger uses the same idea: it separates the verified fact from your interpretation and from the questions still open.
Worked example
All data below are invented for practice. A student’s notes say: “Town K had 280 mm of rain in one day and 3,200 homes flooded.”
Step 1, place. The notes say Town K, but not which region or country. Add the region from the source, or the fact cannot be located.
Step 2, date. The notes give no year and no date. Go back to the source and find it: the storm was on 14 October 2015 (invented).
Step 3, source. The notes came from a revision website. Trace it to the primary record: the local met service report and the council damage survey, both invented here.
Step 4, check the numbers against the source. The met report says 280 mm fell in 24 hours. The average total for the whole month is 240 mm (invented), so the one day was 280 − 240 = 40 mm above a full month’s average.
Step 5, write the ledger lines.
| Place | Date | Fact | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town K, Region R | 14 Oct 2015 | 280 mm of rain in 24 hours | Local met service report | Measured total |
| Town K, Region R | Oct 2015 | 3,200 homes flooded | Council damage survey | Survey count |
The mistake to watch for
The common slip is to copy a figure with no year and call it “current”.
Mistaken note: “Town K floods affect 3,200 homes.”
The sentence is in the present tense, but the count belongs to one event in 2015.
The correction is to anchor the figure: “In the October 2015 flood, a council survey counted 3,200 flooded homes.” The sentence now says what was counted, when and by whom. A later reader can test it or update it.
Check yourself
Use the invented data above where needed.
1. A note reads: “The river burst its banks and 60 people were evacuated.” Which of the three checks is missing?
Show answer
All three. There is no place, no date and no source. Add each before using the fact.
2. A source gives 8,000 homes in Town K and 3,200 flooded. What percentage flooded?
Show answer
3,200 ÷ 8,000 = 0.4, so 40%. Check: 40% of 8,000 = 3,200.
3. Why is a revision website a poor final source?
Show answer
It is a secondary source, so the figure may be copied, rounded or out of date. Use it to find the primary record, then cite that.
Where this leads next
With a trusted note in hand, the next skill is choosing which facts to keep: select a few relevant facts. The statistics and distribution explorer helps you check totals and rates. When you want a teacher to look over your case notes, that is a natural use of online one-to-one Geography tuition.