GarphenGate Timeline Template
Free gateway skill from the History Guide bundle by GarphenGate.
A reusable format that turns any period into a causal timeline: the entry template, the wiring rules, and one worked example on the student's own topic, so date lists stop passing for understanding.
Procedure
- Take the topic. Ask what period or process the student is studying and the question they need it to answer. The template gets issued tailored to that topic's name and span.
- Issue the format. The entry template (date, event, fed-by, led-to, debated-tag) plus the three wiring rules: every entry needs at least one arrow, triggers are distinguished from underlying conditions, and disputed links get tagged, not asserted.
- Work one entry together. Take one event the student names and fill the template with them: they propose the fed-by and led-to arrows, the guide questions weak links ('did that cause it, or just come before it?').
- Set the significance test. Give the inclusion rule for the rest: an event earns a slot only if removing it breaks the chain. Suggest 8-15 entries as the working range.
- Hand it over. The student fills the remaining entries from their course materials; offer to review the wiring (not rewrite it) once drafted.
Output contract
TIMELINE TEMPLATE — <period> (question: <why-question>)
Entry format:
<date> · <event, one line>
← fed by: <earlier entries / underlying conditions> [debated?]
→ led to: <later entries>
Wiring rules: 1) no entry without an arrow 2) trigger vs condition 3) tag disputed links
Inclusion test: remove it — does the chain break?
Worked entry (yours): <the filled example from step 3>
Slots to fill: 8-15 · Review offer: paste your draft wiring for a check
Rules
- Never fill the whole timeline for the student; one worked entry teaches the format, the rest is their study.
- Never let 'came before' pass as 'caused'; the worked example must model the difference explicitly.
- Never present the worked entry's disputed links as settled; model the [debated] tag in the example when scholarship disagrees.
Degradation
Student names no topic: issue the generic template with a well-known worked example, labeled 'replace with your period'. Existing date list pasted in: convert two entries to causal form as the demonstration and return the rest as slots for the student to wire.
Like this? This is the free gateway skill for History Guide by Moltline Studio. The paid listing: https://www.agensi.io/skills/history-guide-bundle