Graphic organizer Grade 9 English Language Arts
Five Sources on the Wexcombe PFAS Results
A grade 9 source appraisal grid that sorts five fictional sources about one well test by who made them, what evidence they carry, and what they cannot answer.
Objectives
- Students will identify the maker and the purpose behind each of five sources on the same event.
- Students will name one question each source can answer and one it cannot.
- Students will decide which source belongs in a research paper and state the reason.
Vocabulary
Key words: source, purpose, primary source, secondary source, limitation
Teacher overview
This organizer is a five-row appraisal grid built around one event: a fictional town learns that one of its wells tested above the federal limit for a PFAS compound. Five sources describe the same result, and each row moves from who made the source, to what kind of evidence it carries, to the questions it can and cannot settle. The misconception the grid corrects is the habit of ranking sources on a single line from trustworthy to untrustworthy. A filter company's page still carries usable background, while a state laboratory report still leaves a household's question open, because each source was made for a purpose, and the purpose decides which questions it was ever built to answer.
Organizer
The situation. Wexcombe, its wells, and all five sources below are fictional and were written for this organizer. The federal limit for the PFAS compounds PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is four parts per trillion each. Water systems must meet that limit by April 2029, and a 2026 EPA proposal, not yet final, would let eligible systems apply for two more years. Wexcombe draws water from three wells. A sample from Well 2 came back above the limit for PFOA. Wells 1 and 3 came back below it.
Source A. Letter mailed by the Wexcombe Water Department. "A sample collected on the fourth from Well 2 was above the federal limit. Well 2 is now off line. Your tap water today comes from Wells 1 and 3, which are below the limit. We will sample again in thirty days."
Source B. Summary page from the state laboratory. A table of results with the sample date, the well number, the compound tested, the measured value, the limit, and the analyst's initials. There is no discussion and no recommendation.
Source C. Story in the Wexcombe Register, the town's weekly paper. The reporter quotes the water department, quotes two residents, and notes that the town has never tested for these compounds before this year.
Source D. Post in the Wexcombe neighborhood message board. A resident writes that a neighbor's dog got sick last spring and asks whether the well is why.
Source E. Page from a company that sells home filters. The page explains what PFAS compounds are, then states that its filter removes them, and offers a discount to households in towns with a recent detection.
Directions. Fill in every empty cell. Use one sentence per cell. Then complete the last row.
| Source | Who made it, and what did they want | What kind of evidence it carries | One question it can answer | One question it cannot answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Department letter | ||||
| B. State laboratory page | ||||
| C. Newspaper story | ||||
| D. Message board post | ||||
| E. Filter company page | ||||
| My decision | Which source would you put first in a research paper? | Why that one? | Which source would you use only with a caution to the reader? | What caution would you write? |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Source | Who made it, and what did they want | What kind of evidence it carries | One question it can answer | One question it cannot answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Department letter | The utility wrote it to inform customers and to show it acted | A first-hand account of the result and of the action taken | What the town did after the sample came back | Whether the water was above the limit in earlier years, since the town had not tested before |
| B. State laboratory page | An accredited laboratory wrote it to report measurements to the state | The measurement itself, with date, location, and analyst identified | Exactly what was measured, where, and on what day | What the result means for a household, because the page offers no interpretation |
| C. Newspaper story | A reporter wrote it to tell readers what happened and to gather reaction | Second-hand reporting, plus quoted first-hand statements | How residents and officials responded, and what context the town lacked | Whether the quoted residents are describing a pattern or a coincidence |
| D. Message board post | A resident wrote it out of worry, to ask a question | A personal account and an untested guess about a cause | What some residents fear and what they want answered | Whether the dog's illness has any connection to the well, since nothing links them |
| E. Filter company page | A seller wrote it to explain the problem and to sell a product | General background about the compounds, plus a sales claim | What PFAS compounds are, in plain terms | Whether this household needs a filter, because the seller benefits from a yes |
| My decision | Source B, the laboratory page | It reports the measurement itself, with the date and the location, so every later claim can be checked against it | Source E, the filter company page | Note that the page sells the product it recommends, and use it only for the general description, not for advice about what to buy |
Differentiation
Support
Give these students the "Who made it" column of the exemplar already filled in, so the task begins at the evidence column. Provide a word bank containing first-hand account, measurement, reporting, personal story, and sales claim. Allow the last row to be answered in phrases rather than sentences.
Extension
Ask these students to add a sixth source of their choosing, such as a state agency web page about PFAS or a letter to the editor, and to complete a full row for it. They then write one paragraph explaining which two sources would have to agree before they would state a cause in their own writing.
ELL supports
Pre-teach source, purpose, and limitation with one example each drawn from the grid itself. Provide sentence frames for the last two columns: "This source can tell me ____ because ____," and "This source cannot tell me ____ because ____." Allow students to mark each source with a symbol for its maker before writing.
Extensions
Ask students to write the sentence they would use to introduce Source B in a research paper, then the sentence they would use to introduce Source E. A short comparison of the two sentences shows how much of a writer's judgment about a source has to appear in the wording that presents it.