To connect a reason to an event, use a three-part chain: claim, evidence, explanation. The claim says what you think was a cause.
The evidence is the documented fact that supports it. The explanation says how the evidence shows the cause acting on the event.
This lesson follows separating triggers from conditions and is part of causation and supported explanation. All material below is invented for practice.
What does each part of the chain do?
- Claim: a precise statement, such as “Falling pay was a long-term cause of the strike.”
- Evidence: a specific fact, figure or source detail, with its source or label.
- Explanation: a sentence beginning “This matters because…” or “This links to the event because…”.
Missing the third part is the most frequent reason a point stays at description.
Worked example (invented case)
The material below is invented for this lesson.
Invented source extract A (an invented mill pay ledger): weekly pay for a mill hand: 14 shillings in 1885, 11 shillings in 1892.
Invented source extract B (an invented petition from the workers, labelled as one side’s view): “We cannot feed our families on the pay now offered.”
Question: How far do the sources support the view that falling pay caused the March 1892 strike in the invented town of Harrowick?
Step 1, claim: falling pay was a long-term cause of the strike.
Step 2, evidence: extract A shows pay fell from 14 shillings to 11 shillings between 1885 and 1892. This is a recorded figure. Extract B states the workers’ view that pay no longer fed their families. This is a viewpoint, not a measurement.
Step 3, explanation: “The ledger shows a fall of 3 shillings a week over seven years, which supports the claim that earnings had worsened before the wage cut. The petition shows that workers themselves linked pay to hardship, although as a petition it presents one side’s case. The two together suggest that the wage cut came after a long squeeze, which helps explain why it led to a strike.”
Step 4, check the label: “shows” is used for the figure, and “suggest” for the combined inference, because the petition is a viewpoint.
The mistake to watch for
Students often drop in evidence without connecting it.
Mistaken answer: “Falling pay caused the strike. The ledger says 14 shillings in 1885 and 11 in 1892.”
The figure is correct, but the answer never says what it shows or how it links to the strike.
The correction is to add the explanation sentence: what the figures show (a fall of 3 shillings), and why that would make a strike more likely. A second mistake is treating a petition or newspaper as a neutral fact. Name whose view it is.
Check yourself
Use these invented extracts. Extract C (an invented tax register): in the village of Fennick, the toll was 1 penny in 1798 and 3 pence in 1810. Extract D (an invented letter from a carter): “The toll eats my profit.”
1. Which extract is a recorded figure and which is a viewpoint?
Show answer
C is a recorded figure. D is one carter’s viewpoint.
2. Write a claim supported by extract C.
Show answer
“Rising tolls were a long-term cause of the 1810 bridge protest.” The register shows the toll tripled from 1 penny to 3 pence between 1798 and 1810.
3. Write the explanation sentence for extract D, with suitable caution.
Show answer
“The carter’s letter suggests that at least some traders felt the toll damaged their income, which would help explain anger at a further rise, although it is only one person’s view.”
Where this leads next
Next, look at stated and speculative motives, because people’s reasons need the same careful handling. Then try the practice set.
Many students can find the evidence but struggle to explain the link in their own words. Our teachers work on that in online one-to-one History tuition.