When you cannot verify a claim, record exactly what you checked, what you could not check, and how much weight the claim can carry. That turns a gap into usable information instead of a hidden weakness.
This skill closes the chain begun in tracing a claim to its original source and sits within sources and credibility. The sources and figures below are invented for practice.
What counts as unverified evidence?
Evidence is unverified when you cannot reach the origin, cannot confirm the method or cannot find independent support. It might still be true. The point is that your record does not yet show it.
Typical cases include a screenshot with no author, a statistic without a stated base, or an interview you cannot check. Each needs a different note.
How to log uncertainty, step by step
- State the claim in the source’s own words.
- List what you checked and what the result was.
- List what you could not check and why.
- Give a confidence level (high, medium or low) with one reason.
- Say what would settle it and how you will use the claim in the meantime.
A simple table keeps this short:
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Claim | The exact wording |
| Source reached | Furthest source and its type |
| Checked | What you confirmed |
| Not checked | What remains unknown |
| Confidence | High, medium or low, with a reason |
| Use | How the claim appears in your work |
Worked example (invented sources)
You find a social media post with a screenshot: “Hillview Library closed three branches last year because of low use.”
Step 1, claim. Three branches closed last year because of low use.
Step 2, checked. The council website lists two current branches, which fits a closure, but gives no dates. A news article confirms one closure and quotes a council spokesperson on budget reasons.
Step 3, not checked. No source confirms the number three. No source gives low use as the reason for all closures. The screenshot has no author or date.
Step 4, confidence. Low for “three” and for “low use”. Medium for “at least one branch closed”, because one named article supports it.
Step 5, settle and use. Council minutes or an official statement would settle it. For now, you write: “At least one branch closed; the number and the reasons are not confirmed.”
The log gives you a sentence you can defend, not a sentence that sounds stronger than your evidence.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to turn “I could not verify it” into “it is false”, or into “it is true because it is plausible”.
Mistaken wording: “The post is fake.” or “Three branches closed because of low use.”
The first claims more than you know about the post. The second claims more than you know about the library.
The correction is to match your words to your checks. Use phrases such as “I could not confirm”, “one source reports” and “the reason given is” so that each statement says only what the evidence supports.
Check yourself
1. A blog quotes “a government study” but gives no title, date or link. What goes in the “not checked” row?
Show answer
That the study exists, who carried it out, when, and whether the quoted figure appears in it. You also record that you could not find it by searching the government’s published reports, if that is what you tried.
2. Two independent news reports agree on a figure, and both cite the same public report you can read. How would you rate confidence, and why?
Show answer
High. You reached the original, and independent reports match it. You would still note the date and the base of the figure.
3. Rewrite this overclaim: “Everyone knows fast food causes most crime in the city.”
Show answer
For example: “One local blog links fast-food outlets to crime, but it gives no data or method, so I could not confirm the claim and treat it as low confidence.”
Where this leads next
You now have a full set of source skills. Test them together on mixed cases in the sources and credibility practice set, or go back to the module overview to review the route.
Writing honestly about uncertainty is a habit that develops with feedback. A teacher in online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition can respond to your own wording on practice examples while your assessed work remains yours.