[11] R&W - Determining Textual Evidence

• Textual Evidence - details given by the author in order to support their claims; reveals the position of the writer and makes the reading more interesting; details that strengthen, add variety or weight to any argument; refers to the proof/evidence cited within a text; must be near to the claim and must be logically related to the claim; must also be from credible sources and must be based on facts
• What can you include in evidence?

  • Facts
  • Statistics
  • Anecdotes
  • Expert Testimony
• Facts - factual statements of information that don't include outside analysis or commentary
• Statistics - numerical or quantitative data
• Anecdotes - true stories about individual experiences or case studies
• Expert Testimony - analysis or commentary from a subject-matter expert
• Characteristics of Good Evidence

  • unified
  • relevant to the central point
  • specific and concrete
  • accurate
  • representative
• Inference - an idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and reasoning
• Explicit Evidence - something that is stated directly in the passage
• Implicit Evidence - not stated directly, but reader understands it because of clues in the text
• How to provide textual evidence

  • Answer the question using inference
  • Cite evidence in the text
  • Explain your answer with evidence by paraphrasing or directly quoting
• Important Ways of Generating Textual Evidence

  • Paraphrasing
  • Summarizing
  • Referencing
  • Quoting
• Paraphrasing - restating the text in your own words; not copying word-for-word
• Summarizing - stating in a shorter way the text and other relevant details to support the idea
• Referencing - mentioning a specific section in the text
• Quoting - directly restating a part of the text
• How to validate Claims using Textual Evidence

  • State your idea about the text
  • Determine evidence from the text by looking for clues and keywords
  • Quote or paraphrase the part of the text that helped you come up with your idea
  • Use quotation marks to quote a part of the text
  • Express how the quote supports your idea
• How to look for the Strengths of a Text

  • The helpfulness of the text to people
  • The quality of the information cited
  • The conciseness
  • Its grammatical and mechanical correctness
• How to Note for the Weaknesses of a Text

  • Unsupported Claims
  • Doubtful Sources
  • Logical Fallacies
  • Incomplete Information
  • Grammatical and Mechanical Errors
• Unsupported Claims - untested hypotheses or baseless conjectures (an opinion formed without proof/evidence)
• Grammatical and Mechanical Errors - can destroy a text even if the content is commendable; can distort facts and hinder understanding