RECON Essentials: Source Evaluation & Evidence Verification

Check the source. Challenge the claim.

RECON Essentials: Source Evaluation & Evidence Verification helps emerging analysts assess what information actually establishes—and recognize when a credible-looking item does not support the claim attached to it.

This practical 44-page workbook combines short lessons, evidence comparisons, fillable exercises, and a fictional capstone. Learn to trace origins, identify repeated reporting, restore missing context, and communicate a qualified conclusion.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Separate source credibility from claim accuracy

• Trace information origins and recognize circular reporting

• Distinguish event, publication, and access times

• Identify location mismatches and misleading image context

• Evaluate source identity, role, and basis of knowledge

• Compare corroborating and conflicting accounts

• Build clear evidence logs and prioritize useful verification tasks

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Seven learning modules and seven guided exercises

• Worked source comparisons and a context-comparison exhibit

• A 10-item fictional capstone evidence packet

• Fillable evidence ledgers, verification plans, and an assessment template

• Item-by-item worked answers and suggested responses with explanations

• A scoring rubric, plain-language glossary, and verification desk card

• 51 interactive fields, including clickable checklist boxes

PRACTICE WITH PURPOSE

The capstone challenges you to evaluate recycled imagery, dependent reporting, similar names, and records covering different times and places. Determine what is supported, what remains unresolved, and which next check could change the decision.

No live investigation, personal-data collection, or specialist forensic tools are required.

TYPE OR PRINT

Complete the exercises digitally and save your responses, or print the workbook and write by hand. For reliable form handling, download the PDF and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

WHO IT’S FOR

Students, aspiring intelligence analysts, and security professionals developing foundational source-evaluation and evidence-verification skills.

Use it independently or alongside the RECON Essentials introductory and intelligence writing workbooks.

FORMAT AND USE

Digital download • 44-page fillable and printable PDF • No physical product

All scenarios are fictional. This introductory educational resource does not confer certification or investigative authority. For individual learning and classroom reference. Redistribution, reproduction, or resale requires permission from RECON Intelligence Labs.