· 9 lists · 450 words

Knowledge and evidence

How somebody knows what they claim.

What holds these lists together

What connects these lists is caution. In research, in history, in the archive and in statistics, little is asserted and most things are placed: los datos apuntan a, no se puede descartar que, el documento data de — and the middle one is followed by the subjunctive. One word stands here as a warning for English speakers. La evidencia is first of all certainty so plain that nobody can doubt it; the material that supports a claim is las pruebas, or los indicios when it only points one way. Writing evidencia for «evidence» easily claims more than the data allow.

The nine lists

B2Science and researchTrial, sample, result — and the care taken in describing them.50 words B2History and memoryTalking about the past without judging it.50 words B2Reading numbersAverage, share, trend — and what a number does not say.50 words C1Archives and librariesRecords, description, shelfmark, strongroom — how paper is ordered, found and kept.50 words C2ArchaeologyExcavation, stratification, dating, interpretation — how earth becomes evidence.50 words C2HistoriographySource, criticism, interpretation, memory — how the past is made into history.50 words C2Inferential statisticsSample, estimator, test and error — the terms in which the few are made to speak for the many.50 words C2PsychometricsScales, items, reliability and validity — how a property nobody can observe directly is measured.50 words C2LibrarianshipCataloguing, arranging, lending, preserving.50 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

Level	Words	Share
B2	150	33 %
C1	50	11 %
C2	250	56 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all nine lists and all 450 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.