Worked example · English · Year 7
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content · LNF: Literacy → Reading → Reading strategies
A complete Year 7 answer key and model response, annotated against the lesson’s success criteria. Key verdicts in Step 1: Claims 1, 3 and 6 are False; Claims 2 and 5 are True; Claim 4 is Folklore presented as fact. Show or read from this sheet after pupils have attempted the tasks.
| Claim made in the blog | Verdict | Evidence from Extracts A, B or C |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Prince Llywelyn’s masons built Gelert’s gravestone in 1205. | False | Extract C: David Pritchard, landlord of the Royal Goat Inn, erected the stone mound around 1793 with the parish clerk to attract tourists. |
| 2. The tree stumps exposed on Borth beach are 4,500 to 6,000 years old. | True | Extract A: Radiocarbon dating by Amgueddfa Cymru confirms the oak, pine, birch and alder stumps grew 4,500 to 6,000 years ago. |
| 3. Divers found 16 solid stone castles on the seabed next to the trees at Borth. | False | Extract A: No stone castles or medieval walls have ever been found; archaeologists found peat, human and animal footprints, and prehistoric stone and antler tools. The 16 settlements come from 17th- and 19th-century retellings of the legend. |
| 4. Council diaries prove Seithennin opened the floodgates in the exact year 520 AD. | Folklore presented as fact | Extract A: Seithennin comes from a 13th-century medieval poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen, not a historical diary from 520 AD. |
| 5. The village of Beddgelert is actually named after an early Christian saint called Celert. | True | Extract B: Eryri National Park explains that the village takes its name from Celert (or Kilart), a 6th or 7th century Christian missionary saint. |
| 6. The story of the loyal hound killed by mistake exists only in Wales. | False | Extract C: Folklorists classify it as International Tale Type B331 (The Faithful Hound), with versions in India (the Panchatantra), Persia and across Europe. |
Every claim is matched to the exact reference extract with specific dates, names and archaeological details. Evidences criterion 1.
| Weak search query | Improved search query | Why it gets better results |
|---|---|---|
is it true that Gelert the dog was real in Beddgelert? |
"Beddgelert" "Celert" origin site:eryri.llyw.cymru |
Uses exact names in quotation marks and restricts results to the official Eryri National Park domain. |
shocking proof of sunken castles at Borth beach |
"submerged forest" Borth archaeology site:museum.wales |
Removes the biased phrase shocking proof and searches Amgueddfa Cymru’s archaeology pages directly. |
who really made Gelert grave for tourists? |
"David Pritchard" "Gelert" 1793 site:.ac.uk |
Targets university history pages (.ac.uk) and locks in the historical innkeeper’s full name. |
when did Cantre'r Gwaelod sink in real life? |
"Cantre'r Gwaelod" "Black Book of Carmarthen" site:museum.wales |
Searches for the medieval manuscript and legend name on the national museum website. |
Each query replaces conversational filler and loaded words with quotation marks, neutral nouns and a trusted site: filter. Evidences criterion 2.
| Source | Author (/5) | Evidence (/5) | Purpose (/5) | Total (/15) | Main reason for your score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Viral blog (@DragonTruthSeeker99) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3/15 | Anonymous username, no sources cited, and tries to sell £29.99 tour passes using clickbait. |
| Extract A: Amgueddfa Cymru | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15/15 | Written by national museum curators using radiocarbon dates and archaeological finds to inform the public. |
| Extract B: Eryri National Park | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14/15 | Official National Park heritage guide backed by early medieval place-name records. |
| Extract C: Dr Elenid Jenkins | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15/15 | Named university historian writing a peer-reviewed article with archival footnotes. |
The pupil scores each criterion consistently and justifies the gap between the commercial blog and the institutional sources. Evidences criterion 3.
Paragraph 1: Although many visitors link the village of Beddgelert in Gwynedd with Prince Llywelyn the Great’s hound Gelert, Eryri National Park explains that the settlement is actually named after Celert, an early Christian missionary saint from the 6th or 7th century. According to historian Dr Elenid Jenkins, the story of a loyal dog killed by mistake is a widespread international folktale classified as Tale Type B331, with older versions found across Europe, Persia and India. The famous grave mound beside the River Glaslyn was not built in 1205, but was put up around 1793 by David Pritchard, landlord of the Royal Goat Inn, to bring tourists to the valley.
Paragraph 2: On the Ceredigion coast between Borth and Ynyslas, winter storms uncover the real prehistoric remains of a submerged forest. According to Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales), radiocarbon dating shows that these oak, pine, birch and alder stumps grew between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago, and archaeologists have found Mesolithic and Bronze Age footprints and tools in the peat rather than stone castles. Over time, the sight of these ancient trees may have inspired the Welsh legend of Cantre’r Gwaelod and its careless watchman Seithennin, which was first written down in a 13th-century poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen.
Calm, informative tone throughout. Both paragraphs separate historical or archaeological evidence from legend and tourist invention, and include clear inline credits to all three trusted sources. Evidences criterion 4.
3-point checklist for Year 6: (1) Check the author and domain: look for a real expert or institution (such as .ac.uk, .gov.uk or museum.wales) rather than an anonymous username. (2) Check the tone and adverts: avoid pages with all-caps headlines, multiple exclamation marks or pop-ups selling tickets. (3) Corroborate the dates: check whether any dramatic date or number appears in at least two independent reference sources.
Search query using minus operator: "Beddgelert" history "Saint Celert" -hotel -booking