--- title: Where did you read that? Checking sources — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Where did you read that? Checking sources», a lesson of the myths course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Finn holds up his tablet: "It says on a website, so it MUST be true!" Isla waves Grandad's old encyclopaedia: "Nine planets, it's --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/) / Where did you read that? Checking sour… # Where did you read that? Checking sources Lesson 28 of the myths course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/0/) — Finn holds up his tablet: "It says on a website, so it MUST be true!" Isla waves Grandad's old encyclopaedia: "Nine planets, it's printed right here!" Both are trusting the container, not checking the claim. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/1/) — Every fact comes from somewhere, and a good checker asks four questions: Who says it? - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/2/) — How do they know? - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/3/) — When was it written? - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/4/) — What do other good sources say? - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/5/) — A printed book can be out of date, a headline can squash a small study into a big claim, an advert wants to sell you something, and "my brother's mate's dad" is a chain nobody can check. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/6/) — Wikipedia is a good place to start, because it lists its sources at the bottom, but anyone can edit it, so follow the links; the same goes for doctors on YouTube. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/7/) — Checking isn't sneering: Rhys's zoo sign about polar bears is roughly right, and finding that out is part of the game too. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/8/) — Searing meat (cooking its outside fast on a very hot pan until brown) does not "seal in the juices"; seared meat loses as much moisture as unseared meat, but browning adds flavour. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/9/) — Pluto was called a planet until 2006, when astronomers made it a dwarf planet, so books printed before then list nine planets. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/10/) — "Clinically proven" (tested on people) in an advert can mean a tiny test without fair comparison; ask who tested it, on how many people, and compared with what. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/11/) — Poinsettias are not deadly; eating them may cause a mild tummy upset, and very large studies of poisoning calls found no deaths from them. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/12/) — Wikipedia is a useful starting point that lists its sources, but anyone can edit it, so check the sources it links to. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/13/) — The idea that "Eskimos have 100 words for snow" grew as it was retold; Inuit and Yupik languages build long words from parts, so counting their "words" for snow is not simple. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/14/) — One person with a medical title saying something odd online is not the same as what most doctors agree on; vegetables are healthy food. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/15/) — Headlines like "Chocolate makes you clever!" often come from a small study, sometimes on animals, and the article usually says much less than the headline. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/16/) — A polar bear's fur looks white, but each hair is actually colourless and the skin underneath is black. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/18/) — A story passed through "my brother's mate's dad" cannot be checked and is weak evidence. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/28-where-did-you-read-that-checking-sources/19/) — Books and encyclopaedias can be wrong or out of date, so check when they were written. - ← previous: [Everyday sayings and grown-ups' rules](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/27-everyday-sayings-and-grown-ups-rules/) - next →: [Let's test it! Experiments and fair tests](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/29-let-s-test-it-experiments-and-fair-tests/) - ↑ back to [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/)