Move 1: The Read
Prove you did the work before you claim anything.
Your mission
Build an Idea Bank of verifiable facts from real sources, before you write a single argument sentence.The prompt you will answer by Move 5
“Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott an effective form of protest?”How this works
It is self paced. Work at your own speed, and come back any time: this page remembers where you were. When you reach a gold checkpoint, actually stop and do the task. Do not skip it. The page will not let you past until you do.
What you produce today
An Idea Bank. Two verified facts, one strategy and one outcome, each with its source named. That Idea Bank becomes the evidence in your essay later.
About 60 minutes. You can split it into two sittings.
What you'll be able to do
Read each one out loud. If you can say it in your own words, you own it.
- I can pull verifiable facts out of a real source.
- I can rate a source from 0 to 10 on the Trust Score.
- I can sort facts into Strategies and Outcomes.
- I can fill my Idea Bank, ready for my thesis statement.
Words you'll use
Fact — something a source can prove happened
Evidence — a fact you quote to back your claim
Citation — naming the source of your evidence
Claim — your debatable answer to the prompt
Reason — the “why” behind your claim
What “verifiable” means
A verifiable fact is one that someone else can check and find in a real source. If you can point to where you found it, it is verifiable. If you just feel it, or heard it somewhere, it is not.
Facts are like texting a photo of the clean sink
Have you ever been asked to do the dishes, and you forgot? You broke trust. To earn it back, just saying “I did them” is not enough.
Click each card in order.
Your reader is your mom
Writing “the boycott was bad” is just saying you did the dishes. A cited fact from a 10/10 source is the photo of the sink: proof your reader cannot argue with. Your reader has been lied to before, by students who guessed. Evidence is how you earn the benefit of the doubt.
Rate every source 0 to 10
Some sources are the photo of the sink. Some are just somebody saying “trust me.”
The rule
Only 10/10 and 7/10 sources go in your Idea Bank. Your claim is only as strong as the source behind it.
Score each source 0 to 10
Scale locked in
You just did what historians do before they read a single word: you checked who was talking.
Your three sources
These open in a new tab. Your page stays right here.
Quick rule
Google AI Overview (4/10) and Wikipedia (2/10) are for finding sources, not citing them. A blog with no author (0/10) is not a source. If you would not trust it with your allowance, do not cite it in your paragraph.
Evidence File: The Lawsuit your turn
Up to now I pulled the facts out for you. This time, you do it.
“Fred Gray, member and lawyer of the MIA, organized a legal challenge to the city ordinances requiring segregation on Montgomery buses.” … “Gray gathered Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith to challenge the constitutionality of the city busing laws.” … “On June 5, 1956, a three-judge U.S. District Court ruled 2-1 that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.”
How I would have written them
Strategy: MIA lawyer Fred Gray organized a legal challenge with four women. (source: National Park Service)
Outcome: On June 5, 1956, a federal court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional. (source: National Park Service)
Different words are fine if the fact and the source are right. Notice all four plaintiffs were women. That fact supports Reason 5 as well.
Straight from Dr. King himself
“We in Montgomery believe that the only way to press on is by adopting the philosophy and practice of non-violent resistance.”
Why a primary source is 10/10
King was there, leading it, while it happened. This is the photo of the sink. It names the strategy in his own words: non-violent resistance, chosen as a philosophy, not just a tactic.
Level-up option
Pull one line from the full essay into your Idea Bank with this citation. That is the Primary Source Challenge on your exit ticket.
Watch a feeling turn into a fact
Every writer starts with feelings. First drafts are supposed to. We upgrade them. That is what writing is.
For each one, pick the sentence that could actually be checked by a reader.
Write two facts
One strategy and one outcome, from everything you just read.
The rules
No feeling words (mad, mean, tired, unfair, bad). Just actions, names, numbers, and dates. Name the source next to each fact.
Check yourself
Read your sentences out loud. If someone could only respond with “prove it,” and you can prove it with a named source, you wrote a fact. If they could respond with “that's your opinion,” rewrite it.
Facts that would pass: 381 days · 50,000 leaflets · 90% effective · the Supreme Court ruling
Every fact is a strategy or an outcome
Strategy
An action: what people DIDOutcome
A result: what HAPPENED becauseThe test that always works
Did a person choose to do this? Strategy. Did it happen to the bus company, the city, or the law as a result? Outcome.
Sort these five
Your Reason Bank
Pair a strategy with its outcome and you get a reason
That reason is the “why” you will argue in Move 2. In the final essay it becomes a body paragraph: the strategy is your topic sentence, the outcome is your evidence.
Reasons 1 and 2 are the training wheels: they get modeled for you. In Move 2, you argue one of reasons 3, 4, or 5.
Where this is heading
- Your Idea Bank facts become your evidence
- Your reason becomes a topic sentence
- Move 2 builds your thesis statement
Nothing you write in Move 1 gets thrown away. It all becomes the essay.
2 Goods, 1 Improvement
Parents make great graders.
Partner A reads
“My topic is ______.”“My strategy fact is ______, from [source].”
“My outcome fact is ______, from [source].”
Partner B responds
Good 1: “I like how you used factual phrasing instead of your opinion when you said ______.”Good 2: “I like how you named your source.”
Improve: “I think your fact is actually an opinion because ______” or “Can you show me where you found that?”
Then switch roles. Everyone gives feedback. Everyone gets it. That's how real writers work. Working alone? Read your facts out loud to yourself and grade them with the same three responses.
Build your Idea Bank
This organizer is your ticket to Move 2. You'll use these exact facts to build your claim.
The rules
- Facts from 10/10 or 7/10 sources only
- Zero feeling words: actions, names, numbers, dates
- A strategy is an action, not a result
- Write the source name next to each fact
The Readiness Gate
All five, or back to the reading slides. Going back is not failing. Every real writer revises.
Not through yet
Unchecked box? Go back to the reading, fix it, and re-check. Revising is how writers grow.
Gate open
All five checks passed. You are ready for the exit ticket.
Lock in your reason
Circle the ONE reason you will argue in Move 2.
You can't pick Economic Pressure or Community Organization: those get modeled for you in Move 2.
Level-up menu — was this easy? Prove it.
Next up · Move 2: The Answer
You'll turn your reason into a thesis statement and climb the Claim Ladder from Level 0 to Level 5.
You now have something most writers never build before they argue: a bank of proven facts.
Your Move 1 work
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