LET’S TRY ONE
Three newspapers repeat the same report supplied by one witness. How many independent witness accounts are described?
One
The three publications share one stated witness origin.
Learning steps & teaching tips
Distinguish independent observations from repeated copies when evaluating corroboration.
- Identify who created each record and what each creator observed.
- Check whether one record copied another.
- Explain how agreement, dependence and missing coverage affect confidence.
Try it together
Write one witness statement and two copied reports. Compare those three documents with two genuinely separate observations of a classroom event.
Count independent origins, not just the number of documents repeating a claim.