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Excellent Here, Useless There is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on judging a source's usefulness for a topic, aligned to Common Core standard D2.His.13.3-5. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 15 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Excellent Here, Useless There

D2.His.13.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Topic: who could not afford to leave. How useful is the ledger?
  • A.Complete on its own
  • B.Useful: it records a deferred, unpaid passage
  • C.Useless: it lists only those who paid
2.Topic: why people moved. How useful is the same abstract?
  • A.Useless: censuses are unreliable
  • B.Very useful: it explains motives
  • C.Not very useful: it counts people and records no reasons
3.Topic: the owners' case in 1893. How useful is the union circular?
  • A.Useful indirectly: it quotes the profits the owners did not
  • B.Directly useful: the owners wrote it
  • C.Of no use whatever
4.Topic: where people moved. How useful is the census abstract?
  • A.Very useful: it gives district totals for two years
  • B.Useless: it is only numbers
  • C.Very useful: it gives reasons
5.Topic: health and housing. How useful is the medical officer's table?
  • A.Useful: it links districts, deaths and piped water
  • B.Complete on its own
  • C.Useless: it gives no causes
6.Topic: the region's trade. How useful is the harbour return?
  • A.Complete on its own
  • B.Useless without prices
  • C.Very useful: it lists tonnages and dues for a full year
7.Topic: what mill hands earned. How useful is the harbour return?
  • A.Very useful: dues are wages
  • B.Of almost no use: it records cargo, not wages
  • C.Useful for the wage rate
8.Why can the same source be excellent and useless in one lesson?
  • A.Some sources are always best
  • B.Sources change
  • C.Usefulness depends on the question, not on the source alone

LessonPrint · D2.His.13.3-5 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Excellent Here, Useless There

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Useful: it records a deferred, unpaid passage
  2. 2.Not very useful: it counts people and records no reasons
  3. 3.Useful indirectly: it quotes the profits the owners did not
  4. 4.Very useful: it gives district totals for two years
  5. 5.Useful: it links districts, deaths and piped water
  6. 6.Very useful: it lists tonnages and dues for a full year
  7. 7.Of almost no use: it records cargo, not wages
  8. 8.Usefulness depends on the question, not on the source alone

More practice for D2.His.13.3-5

Judge how useful a source is for a particular topic.

Teaching this next? Excellent Here, Useless There is the 50-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.His.13.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.