Lesson plan

Patrick Major

Patrick N. Major (born 1964, in Surrey) is Professor of History at the University of Reading. Major is a specialist in the history of modern Germany, the World Wars, the Cold War, film history and popular cultural history. Major spent some time researching in the West German security services. He later discovered that his supervisor in the West German version of MI5 was a former Stasi agent.

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Article summary

Patrick N. Major (born 1964, in Surrey) is Professor of History at the University of Reading. Major is a specialist in the history of modern Germany, the World Wars, the Cold War, film history and popular cultural history. Major spent some time researching in the West German security services. He later discovered that his supervisor in the West German version of MI5 was a former Stasi agent.

Key claims

  1. date of birth: 1964 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of birth is "1964". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1313353967

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.