What this skill is, in plain English
An anchor is any concrete locator that helps you find evidence quickly, such as a name, date, number, figure label, or rare term. A citation is a source pointer, for example Smith (2019), [12], or a footnote mark. A signal phrase introduces a source, for example “A recent study reports…”. Paraphrase restates a source in new words. Quotation copies exact words and must be precise.

Why it matters
IELTS Reading asks you to judge facts and writer views with speed. University tasks require you to claim, then support the claim with the right source. If you separate claims from evidence and match the right citation, your answers become fast to verify and hard to dispute.

The four-move Evidence Match method

1. Scope the claim
   Underline the what, who, when, and how many. Circle any superlatives or exclusives like only, first, main. These set truth conditions.
2. Scan anchors before words
   Jump to names, dates, numbers, figure labels, and hedges like may, likely, tends to. Anchors beat blind keyword hunting.
3. Identify the voice
   Ask: is it the writer’s stance or a source’s stance. Signal verbs help. “argues, recommends” can be the writer. “Smith (2019) found…” is the source. Match writer view questions to the writer; match factual questions to the reported result.
4. Pin the citation
   Grab the nearest citation that actually supports the clause with the claim, not a nearby sentence. If the clause spans two sentences, the supporting citation must touch the sentence that carries the core claim.

Recognise citation patterns fast

• Author–date: Smith (2019) or (Smith, 2019). The surname is your map; the year narrows context.
• Numeric brackets: [12] or [3, 7]. Often in STEM. The number points to a reference list; proximity matters.
• Footnotes: small superscripts that send you to the bottom of the page.
• Signal-only: “a recent survey” with no explicit citation in the line. Evidence may be in the next sentence or a table.

Tip: Evidence can be split. A sentence may claim X and cite [12]; the next sentence clarifies a condition with no citation. Do not drag the first citation onto the second claim unless it truly applies.

Worked Example 1: Match the right sentence and citation

Passage
“After bus lanes were introduced, average particulate levels fell by about 15 percent in peak hours (Rahman, 2022). However, weekend spikes persisted around stadium events, suggesting that crowd control remains necessary.”

Statements to evaluate
A. Weekend pollution improved more than weekday pollution.
B. Peak hour pollution dropped following the policy.
C. The author believes crowd control is still needed.

Location and match

• A: Not Given. No comparison of more than; only says spikes persisted on weekends.
• B: True, anchored by “fell by about 15 percent in peak hours,” citation (Rahman, 2022).
• C: Yes for writer view, anchored by “suggesting that… remains necessary,” no citation in the clause, so it is the writer’s inference.

Why this works
You matched the fact to the cited study and matched the opinion to the writer without inventing a source.

Worked Example 2: Numeric style with brackets

Passage
“Low-cost sensors can underestimate peak concentrations by up to 20 percent [7]. Still, deploying them at scale improves spatial coverage [8].”

Questions
A. The writer claims sensors are unreliable and should not be deployed.
B. A specific underestimation bias is reported.
C. Coverage improves when many units are used.

Location and match

• A: No. The second sentence supports deployment with [8].
• B: True with bracket [7] and the phrase “up to 20 percent”.
• C: True with bracket [8]. Two different claims, two different sources.

Why this works
You did not let the negative result in [7] swallow the positive claim in [8]. Each clause kept its own citation.

Mini case — Fariha in Dhaka

Problem: Fariha answered writer view questions using study results and often lost marks.
Intervention: she added a two-color system in skims: green for facts with citations, blue for writer stance lines without citations or with verbs like argue, recommend, caution. She also wrote a six-word stance line after the introduction of each passage, for example “Writer supports policy with condition.”
Results after two weeks: accuracy for Y or N or NG rose from 58 to 84 percent, and scan time per item fell from 40 to 25 seconds.

Measurable drills

• Anchor hunt: In 90 seconds, highlight all names, dates, numbers, and figure labels in one page. Target at least 10 anchors on a standard article.
• Voice label sprint: Mark 12 sentences F for fact with a citation, W for writer stance, S for source stance. Aim for 90 percent correct.
• Clause–citation link: For five claims, copy the exact clause and write the exact citation next to the words that need it. If the citation attaches to a different sentence, fix the claim.
• Proof rule: For any NG decision, write the shortest quote that would have made it True and another that would have made it False. If you cannot, NG stands.

Common mistakes

• Citation drift: borrowing a citation from the previous sentence for a new claim.
• Author-source confusion: treating “Smith reports” as the writer’s belief. The writer can cite and then disagree.
• Keyword echo: matching a word in the option text to a different concept in the passage. Always check the clause that carries the meaning.
• Unit errors: mixing percent and percentage points when rewriting a cited result.
• Over-reading hedges: may or tends to is still a view. Do not mark NG just because it is hedged.

Edge cases and safe responses

• Multiple citations after a sentence: if two sources follow, you can attribute the shared claim to both, but do not use them to support a different claim in the next sentence.
• Tables and figures: when the body text says “see Table 2,” treat Table 2 as the evidence location and cite it explicitly in your sentence: “as shown in Table 2…”.
• Embedded quotes: if a quote states a fact, cite the source of the quote, not the article author, unless the author adds analysis.
• Paraphrase across a paragraph: map the first occurrence of the idea and keep the citation with the first claim unless the second claim adds a new result.

Tips and tricks

• Read the first and last sentence of a paragraph first. Many stance cues and citations live there.
• Build a mini bank of stance verbs and hedges to spot writer intent fast.
• When copying numbers, prefer rounded forms unless the study’s precision is the point.
• Keep a one-line evidence log per paragraph: claim, anchor, citation tag.
• Use “level at, change by, change to” frames when rewriting numeric evidence.

To avoid

• Chasing every keyword with no anchor plan.
• Writing claims that no attached citation covers.
• Treating headings or captions as evidence without checking the data.
• Mixing writer voice and source voice in one sentence.

Glossary
Anchor: a concrete locator such as a name, date, number, or label.
Citation: the source pointer that credits evidence.
Signal phrase: words that introduce a source, for example “X reports”.
Writer stance: the author’s own view, often uncited in the clause.
Source stance: a view attributed to a cited study or authority.
Proof rule: the two-way test for Not Given decisions.

Next steps
Print one passage. In pencil, mark anchors in green and stance words in blue. For three claims, copy the exact supporting clause and its citation. For one writer view, copy the stance line with no borrowed citation. Time the process and aim to cut it by 20 percent on your next passage.

1. Actionable closing — How-to steps
2. Scope the claim and mark scope words like only and main.
3. Scan anchors first, then read the sentence that contains them.
4. Decide the voice: writer stance or source stance.
5. Attach the citation to the clause that carries the claim.
6. Copy or paraphrase the evidence with unit discipline.
7. Run the proof rule on any NG candidate before you commit.
8. Keep an evidence log with claim, anchor, and citation tag for each paragraph.

CTA: Take one article today. Build an evidence log for two paragraphs using the steps above. For each claim, write the exact supporting clause and citation tag. Track time and aim to reduce minutes per claim by 20 percent this week.