SIFT: Evaluating Sources and Spotting Manipulation: Research Unit 3, Grade 7 (Letters & Devotion)

Description

SIFT: Evaluating Sources and Spotting Manipulation is Unit 3 of Practical Arts and Research Literacy (Grade 7), the Letters & Devotion Research course, complete in one printable PDF: 11 lessons, the unit check-up and the answer key, 70 pages.

• The lateral-reading principle underlying SIFT
• The SIFT procedure’s four named steps and their basic purpose
• The SIFT procedure (Stop, Investigate, Find better coverage, Trace claims)
• Self-description on ‘About’ pages versus independent verification
• Cross-source agreement as evidence of claim reliability
• Context-tracing of quotes and statistics to original sources
• Native advertising and sponsored content labeling conventions
• Current AI-generated text detection cues and their unreliability
• Transfer of the SIFT procedure across media formats
• Engagement bait and emotionally-charged headlines as intentional design
• A justified trust rating synthesizing source-type tag, lateral-reading trail, and claim-tracing

Every lesson is written for a parent with no teaching background: it opens with a short script to read aloud, names the specific wrong idea a student is likely to reach for and how to correct it, and closes with a practice sheet you may copy for your household. Scripture references are King James Version throughout. Black-and-white, 8.5 x 11 in. The whole year of this course is also in this store as a single book.

AI note: The written content of this resource was drafted with AI tools, then reviewed and edited by the author.