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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 12

Research & Credibility

Peer review, AI output and synthesis

What your child practices

Students practice effective research questions, peer review, conflicting sources, sampling, lateral reading, checking AI output for invented sources, and citing and synthesizing evidence honestly.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 9.21; 9.22; 9.25 · research questions, conflicting sources, credibility and citing

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Use peer-reviewed sources when you can, and ask who funded a study.
  2. Read laterally: check what other reliable sources say. AI tools can invent sources and facts.
  3. Correlation is not causation: two things happening together doesn’t prove one causes the other.

Example: Ice cream sales and sunburns both rise in summer. Does ice cream cause sunburns? They happen at the same time. Both are caused by something else: hot, sunny weather. Answer: No: correlation does not prove causation.

Research & Credibility in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 12 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Form & Composing and before Proofreading.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What does it mean to synthesize sources in an essay?

    • combine ideas from several sources to support your own argument
    • list sources
    • summarize one source
    • quote every sentence

  2. Question 2

    Why should you consider who funds a study?

    • it tells you the date
    • funding makes studies longer
    • it does not matter
    • funders can have an interest in the results

  3. Question 3

    Which source is generally most credible for a scientific claim?

    • a peer-reviewed journal article
    • an anonymous blog
    • a viral video
    • a product website

  4. Question 4

    Why is it important to read beyond the headline before citing an article?

    • the article has no facts
    • headlines can oversimplify or exaggerate
    • the headline is the whole story
    • headlines are always neutral

  5. Question 5

    What is a credible author?

    • someone with many followers
    • someone with relevant expertise and a record of accuracy
    • someone who writes long posts
    • someone who agrees with you

  6. Question 6

    What does it mean if a claim is unfalsifiable?

    • it has been proven
    • it is from a journal
    • it is a fact
    • it can't be tested or proven wrong

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