Evidence sheets

    Students in various versions of my JFK course have found it helpful to organize their thoughts on various important ideas by summarizing the evidence for and against them (or having the evidence summarized for them) on individual sheets that I call evidence sheets. These sheets begin with very simple propositions such as "At least one shot was fired that day" and range upward in complexity until they reach the critical "JFK was killed by a conspiracy" and "JFK was not killed by a conspiracy." Depending on the needs of the class, we can deal with 20 to 40 evidence sheets. The great advantage of these sheets is that they help students to focus their thoughts on pieces of evidence and their characteristics. The two most common results of working with evidence sheets is that students come to realize that (1) much less is known for certain about the assassination than they think, but that (2) much more can be done with that certain evidence than they think.
    The format of an evidence sheet is very simple. (See Template 2020.) At the top is the proposition to be evaluated, such as "At least one shot was fired that day." Below it is a big table, with rows for each piece of evidence and four columns for each row: the piece of evidence, whether it is direct or indirect,  whether it is strong or weak, and whether it is valid or invalid (i.e., right or wrong). (See the essay on types of evidence for a discussion of these criteria.) The pieces of evidence for the proposition are grouped in the top half of the table; those against the proposition, below. If possible, the stronger evidence within "for" or "against" is usually listed first. At the bottom is space to summarize the strength of the evidence for and against and give the general conclusion (whether the proposition is rejected or retained). I encourage all external participants in the course to work with these evidence sheets for themselves and offer any comments that they wish, such as on the choice of evidence and how we evaluate it. The more points of view on something as important as evidence, the better.

List of evidence sheets

Template2020

At least one shooter fired
At least two shooters fired

At least three shooters fired

At least one shot was fired

At least two shots were fired
At least three shots were fired

At least one shot was fired from the Dal-Tex Building

At least one shot was fired from the Depository

At least one shot was fired from the County Courts Building

At least one shot was fired from the grassy knoll

At least one shot was fired from the rear

At least one shot was fired from the front or side

At least one shot was fired from other then the Depository

JFK's head was hit from the rear
JFK's head was hit from the front or the side