ACTIVITY: Claim Testing - Authority

How do we decide who to believe? Who can we consider “authority”? And what does Taylor Swift have to do with figuring out when and where the Enlightenment began?

Complete the activity online

You can complete this activity on your device by following this link. Make a copy of the Google doc so that you can fill out the activity. Navigate to “File” in the menu bar and select “Make a copy.” Then, use that copy to complete the activity.

Download or print the activity

You can also download a printable PDF of this activity at this link.

In this activity, you’ll become more familiar with the nuances (slight differences) of authority. This is a challenging but worthy claim tester because authority can either be earned or granted—and is deeply connected to our personal biases. The reasons we choose to believe people are varied, and it’s not always because someone has authority on the topic at hand. Understanding how and why we decide what to believe is a critical skill not just in history, but in our everyday assessment of claims. You will dig into the specifics of authority and understand how to identify, assess, and use authority when evaluating and making claims.

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