W.9-10.9: Writing with Evidence from Shakespeare's Source and an Argument
In plain English: W.9-10.9 is the Common Core ELA standard that asks students in grades 9 and 10 to draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research. In writing, they apply the grade 9-10 Reading standards, for example analyzing how an author transforms a source or evaluating the claims, reasoning and evidence in an argument.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a.Apply grades 9—10 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work [e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare]").
b.Apply grades 9—10 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning").
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Writing Standards · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge · Official standard
Students learn to support written analysis with evidence drawn from two kinds of text. For literature, they compare the morning of the Ides of March in Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch with the same scene in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and they write about what Shakespeare kept, changed, added and cut, and why. For literary nonfiction, they delineate and evaluate Samuel Hopkins Adams's 1905 argument that the patent medicine Peruna was mostly alcohol sold as medicine, judging whether his reasoning is valid and his evidence relevant and sufficient.
The lesson follows W.9-10.9 literally: it applies RL.9-10.9 (standard a) and RI.9-10.8 (standard b) in writing. Students sort source cards, audit short arguments, repair a weak draft, write their own evidence paragraph with a research check, and for homework compare Antony's funeral speech with Plutarch and evaluate Adams's case against another product, Liquozone.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Draw exact, cited evidence from literary and informational texts to support a written analysis
Compare a literary work with its source and write about what the author kept, changed, added or cut, and why
Delineate an argument's central claim, reasons and evidence, and evaluate whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence relevant and sufficient
Identify false statements and fallacious reasoning in a source and in a draft
Reflect in writing on what the evidence shows, and use research to check a fact a text depends on
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Citing strong and thorough textual evidence from a text RL.9-10.1
Drawing evidence from texts in grade 8 writing W.8.9
Writing arguments with claims, reasons and evidence W.9-10.1
Reading Shakespeare's verse aloud with support; no earlier reading of Julius Caesar is needed
"Think of a movie or show based on a book, a true story or an older film. Name one thing it kept, one thing it changed and one thing it added. Why might the makers have made that change?"
Take three or four answers and sort them on the board under Kept, Changed, Added and Cut. Point out that every answer needed evidence from both versions: "In the book she ... but in the movie she ..." That is the move this lesson practices in writing.
Introduce the source. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (first performed in 1599) takes its story from Plutarch's Lives, a Greek biography collection that Sir Thomas North translated into English, by way of a French version, in 1579. Shakespeare often kept North's words. Text 1 is North's Plutarch on the morning Caesar was killed, the Ides of March (March 15). Read it aloud and ask: What does Calpurnia want? What does Decius Brutus, one of the conspirators, do to change Caesar's mind? Explain the two omission marks: [...] marks a gap between two quoted passages on this page, and the four dots after "slain" are the 1908 edition's own cut.
1Then going to bed the same night, as his manner was, and lying with his wife Calpurnia, all the windows and doors of his chamber flying open, the noise awoke him, and made him afraid when he saw such light; but more, when he heard his wife Calpurnia, being fast asleep, weep and sigh, and put forth many fumbling lamentable speeches: for she dreamed that Cæsar was slain.... Cæsar rising in the morning, she prayed him, if it were possible, not to go out of the doors that day, but to adjourn the session of the Senate until another day. And if that he made no reckoning of her dream, yet that he would search further of the soothsayers by their sacrifices, to know what should happen him that day. Thereby it seemed that Cæsar did likewise fear or suspect somewhat, because his wife Calpurnia until that time was never given to any fear and superstition; and that then he saw her so troubled in mind with this dream she had. But much more afterwards, when the soothsayers having sacrificed many beasts one after another, told him that none did like them: then he determined to send Antonius to adjourn the session of the Senate.
[...]
2But in the mean time Decius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, in whom Cæsar put such confidence, that in his last will and testament he had appointed him to be his next heir, and yet was of the conspiracy with Cassius and Brutus: he, fearing that if Cæsar did adjourn the session that day, the conspiracy would be betrayed, laughed at the soothsayers, and reproved Cæsar, saying, 'that he gave the Senate occasion to mislike with him, and that they might think he mocked them, considering that by his commandment they were assembled, and that they were ready willingly to grant him all things, and to proclaim him king of all his provinces of the Empire of Rome out of Italy, and that he should wear his diadem in all other places both by sea and land. And furthermore, that if any man should tell them from him they should depart for that present time, and return again when Calpurnia should have better dreams, what would his enemies and ill-willers say, and how could they like of his friends' words? And who could persuade them otherwise, but that they should think his dominion a slavery unto them and tyrannical in himself? And yet if it be so,' said he, 'that you utterly mislike of this day, it is better that you go yourself in person, and, saluting the Senate, to dismiss them till another time.' Therewithal he took Cæsar by the hand, and brought him out of his house.
Plutarch, translated by Sir Thomas North, Life of Julius Caesar, in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch (the morning of the Ides of March: Calpurnia's dream and Decius Brutus), as quoted in the notes of The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar (Text 1) (1579; this edition 1908). Public domain (published 1908). Source text.
Direct Instruction20 minutes
W.9-10.9 asks students to draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research. It works by pointing at the Reading standards: in writing, students do what RL.9-10.9 asks with literature (how an author draws on and transforms source material) and what RI.9-10.8 asks with literary nonfiction (delineating and evaluating an argument). This lesson does both.
An analytical paragraph that draws evidence makes four moves:
Claim: a sentence a reader could disagree with, not a fact or a summary.
Evidence: the exact words, in quotation marks, cited by paragraph or line, for example (Text 2, line 32).
Analysis: one or two sentences on how those words support the claim. Evidence never explains itself.
Reflection (when it helps): why the point matters, or what the comparison reveals.
For a work and its source, ask four questions: What did the author keep? Change? Add? Cut? Then ask the question that turns a list into analysis: what does the change do? Read Text 2, the same morning in Shakespeare's play, in parts (Caesar, Decius, Calpurnia). Diagram 1 lines up five moments from the two texts.
1Cæs. Mark Antony shall say I am not well, And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.
Enter DECIUS.
Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.
5Dec. Cæsar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Cæsar: I come to fetch you to the senate-house.
Cæs. And you are come in very happy time, To bear my greeting to the senators And tell them that I will not come to-day: 10Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser: I will not come to-day: tell them so, Decius.
Cal. Say he is sick.
Cæs. Shall Cæsar send a lie? Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far, 15To be afeard to tell graybeards the truth? Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come.
Dec. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause, Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.
Cæs. The cause is in my will: I will not come; 20That is enough to satisfy the senate. But, for your private satisfaction, Because I love you, I will let you know. Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home: She dreamt to-night she saw my statua, 25Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it: And these does she apply for warnings and portents And evils imminent, and on her knee 30Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.
Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted; It was a vision fair and fortunate: Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, In which so many smiling Romans bathed, 35Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck Reviving blood, and that great men shall press For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance. This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.
Cæs. And this way have you well expounded it.
40Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can say: And know it now: the senate have concluded To give this day a crown to mighty Cæsar. If you shall send them word you will not come, Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock 45Apt to be render'd, for some one to say 'Break up the senate till another time, When Cæsar's wife shall meet with better dreams.' If Cæsar hide himself, shall they not whisper 'Lo, Cæsar is afraid'? 50Pardon me, Cæsar, for my dear dear love To your proceeding bids me tell you this, And reason to my love is liable.
Cæs. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! I am ashamed I did yield to them. 55Give me my robe, for I will go.
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, scene 2, lines 55-107 of the Cambridge Edition (Decius Brutus comes to fetch Caesar) (Text 2) (1623; this edition 1865). Public domain (published 1865). Source text.
Kept: the Senate is ready to crown Caesar
Plutarch's Decius says the senators were "ready willingly to grant him all things, and to proclaim him king" (Text 1, paragraph 2). Shakespeare's Decius: "the senate have concluded / To give this day a crown to mighty Cæsar" (Text 2, lines 41-42).
Result: Shakespeare keeps the bait and makes it sharper: a promise becomes a decision already made, "concluded," for "this day." Written as analysis: the kept detail tells the audience exactly what Caesar wants, so his change of mind comes as no surprise.
Changed: what Calpurnia dreamed
Plutarch says only that "she dreamed that Cæsar was slain" (Text 1, paragraph 1). In Shakespeare, Caesar reports that she saw his statue "like a fountain with an hundred spouts" that "Did run pure blood," while "many lusty Romans / Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it" (Text 2, lines 24-27).
Result: Shakespeare turns a plain report into a picture, and the picture comes true in the play: after the murder Brutus tells the conspirators, "Stoop, Romans, stoop, / And let us bathe our hands in Cæsar's blood / Up to the elbows" (Act III, scene 1). The changed dream makes the audience recognize the killing when it comes.
Added: Caesar refuses to lie
In Text 1, Caesar simply decides "to send Antonius to adjourn the session." In Text 2, when Calpurnia says "Say he is sick" (line 12), Caesar answers, "Shall Cæsar send a lie?" (line 13).
Result: Nothing in Plutarch matches this exchange. Written as analysis: the added lines show that Caesar's pride in his honesty and courage is already pulling him toward the Senate before Decius says a word.
Text 4 is a model paragraph that puts the four moves together. Have students mark each part: claim (first sentence), evidence (the quotations), analysis (the sentences that explain them) and reflection (the last sentence).
1In Plutarch's account, Decius Brutus wins by scolding; in Shakespeare's play, he wins by flattering, and the change shows how easily Caesar's vanity can be turned against him. Plutarch's Decius "laughed at the soothsayers, and reproved Cæsar" (Text 1, paragraph 2), treating the warnings as a joke. Shakespeare's Decius never laughs. Instead he tells Caesar that the dream "was a vision fair and fortunate" (Text 2, line 32) and that from Caesar "great Rome shall suck / Reviving blood" (lines 35-36). This reading does not argue with the dream; it turns the same bloody image into praise, so that Caesar hears himself described as the life of Rome. Caesar accepts it at once: "And this way have you well expounded it" (line 39). Because Shakespeare keeps the dream but changes what Decius does with it, the audience watches a conspirator steer Caesar with his own pride. Reading the source makes the choice visible: the flattering reading of the dream is Shakespeare's invention, not Plutarch's.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 4: A model analytical paragraph (written for this page; the quotations are from Texts 1 and 2). Original passage written for this page.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Now apply the grade 9-10 Reading standard for literary nonfiction: delineate an argument (lay out its claim, reasons and evidence), then evaluate it (is the reasoning valid, and is the evidence relevant and sufficient?), and watch for false statements and fallacious reasoning. Text 3 is by Samuel Hopkins Adams, a journalist whose 1905 series in Collier's Weekly attacked patent medicines: remedies sold straight to the public, with secret formulas and bold advertising. Terms to know: a nostrum is a quack remedy, proprietary means owned and sold under a brand name, cologne spirits is nearly pure alcohol, and 190 proof means 95 percent alcohol. Diagram 2 maps the argument.
1Peruna, or, as its owner, Dr. S. B. Hartman, of Columbus, Ohio (once a physician in good standing), prefers to write it, Pe-ru-na, is at present the most prominent proprietary nostrum in the country. It has taken the place once held by Greene's Nervura and by Paine's Celery Compound, and for the same reason which made them popular. The name of that reason is alcohol.* Peruna is a stimulant pure and simple, and it is the more dangerous in that it sails under the false colors of a benign purpose.
2* Dr. Ashbel P. Grinnell of New York City, who has made a statistical study of patent medicines, asserts as a provable fact that more alcohol is consumed in this country in patent medicines than is dispensed in a legal way by licensed liquor venders, barring the sale of ales and beer.
3According to an authoritative statement given out in private circulation a few years ago by its proprietors, Peruna is a compound of seven drugs with cologne spirits. This formula, they assure me, has not been materially changed. None of the seven drugs is of any great potency. Their total is less than one-half of 1 per cent, of the product. Medicinally they are too inconsiderable, in this proportion, to produce any effect. There remains to Peruna only water and cologne spirits, roughly in the proportion of three to one. Cologne spirits is the commercial term for alcohol.
[...]
4Any one wishing to make Peruna for home consumption may do so by mixing half a pint of cologne spirits, 190 proof, with a pint and a half of water, adding thereto a little cubebs for flavor and a little burned sugar for color. Manufactured in bulk, so a former Peruna agent estimates, its cost, including bottle and wrapper, is between fifteen and eighteen cents a bottle. Its price is $1.00.
Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Great American Fraud, chapter II, Peruna and the Bracers (four paragraphs from the opening of the article) (Text 3) (1905; this edition 1906). Public domain (published 1906). Source text.
Delineating the argument
Adams states his central claim in paragraph 1: Peruna "is a stimulant pure and simple, and it is the more dangerous in that it sails under the false colors of a benign purpose."
Result: Two reasons hold it up. First, the seven drugs are too weak to matter (paragraph 3). Second, what is left is water and alcohol (paragraphs 3-4). Delineating means stating the claim and these reasons in order before judging anything.
Evaluating one piece of evidence
For the first reason, Adams cites the formula "given out in private circulation a few years ago by its proprietors" and adds that "they assure me" it has not changed (Text 3, paragraph 3).
Result: The evidence is relevant, and it is strong in one way: the makers themselves supplied it, and they had no reason to understate their drugs. It has a gap, too: the formula is a few years old, and the claim that it is unchanged rests on the makers' word. Write it up: "Adams's best evidence is the makers' own formula, although he takes their word that it is current."
Pairs fill in the evidence table for Adams's argument. In the last two columns they write yes, partly or no, with a reason.
Evidence table for Text 3 (pairs fill in the blank cells)
Claim in Text 3
Evidence Adams gives
Where the evidence comes from
Relevant?
Sufficient?
Peruna is popular for the same reason as two earlier tonics
Peruna's seven drugs are too weak to have any effect
Peruna is mostly water and alcohol
Peruna earns its owner a large profit
Row 2 is modeled in the second example above. Quiz Questions 8 and 9 check rows 1 and 4 and Question 11 checks the arithmetic behind row 3, so those answers are in the quiz key. Discuss: which of Adams's claims needs the most additional evidence, and what kind?
Independent Practice20 minutes
Read Text 5, a weak first draft about Text 3. For each numbered sentence, students write one problem, choosing from: SUM (summary, no claim), DQ (dropped quotation: no introduction, citation or analysis), UN (unsupported: nothing in the text says it), IRR (the evidence does not support the claim it is attached to), HG (hasty generalization: a conclusion broader than the evidence) and OVR (overclaim). Then they rewrite the draft as a paragraph of 120-180 words that makes an arguable claim about Adams's argument and evaluates at least two pieces of his evidence.
The quiz uses Texts 1-5 (Warm-Up, Direct Instruction, Guided Practice and this phase). Paragraph and line numbers match the numbers beside each text.
1[1] Samuel Hopkins Adams wrote an article about Peruna in Collier's Weekly in 1905. [2] "Peruna is a stimulant pure and simple." [3] People in 1905 probably bought Peruna because they were bored and wanted something new to try. [4] Adams proves that Peruna is dangerous, because someone who used to sell Peruna guessed that a bottle costs only fifteen to eighteen cents to make. [5] Dr. Grinnell says more alcohol is consumed in patent medicines than is sold by licensed liquor dealers, so every patent medicine must be mostly alcohol. [6] This proves that Adams is right about everything in his article.
SVHS lesson authors, Text 5: A weak first draft about Text 3 (written for this page; the student is invented; sentences are numbered in brackets for discussion). Original passage written for this page.
Closure5 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Write a claim, one quotation with its citation and one sentence of analysis about either Text 2 or Text 3. (2) Reflection: which of the questions Kept, Changed, Added, Cut, Relevant and Sufficient helped you most today, and why?
Hand out the homework texts below: Plutarch on Caesar's will and funeral (Text 6), Antony's mantle speech (Text 7) and Adams on Liquozone (Text 8).
Teacher notes: (1) The four dots in Text 1 are the 1908 edition's cut. In the full passage Plutarch adds that Calpurnia dreamed she held Caesar slain in her arms, and that according to Livy she instead dreamed that an ornamental pinnacle on Caesar's house broke. Shakespeare's fountain-statue appears in neither version. Tucker Brooke's 1909 edition of Shakespeare's Plutarch prints the full passage. (2) In Text 8, Adams gives a temperature for liquid oxygen, "229 degrees below zero." The figure is off: at ordinary pressure oxygen boils at about 297 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (183 below zero Celsius). Students who check his facts will find the error; after Homework Problem 4, ask whether it changes his argument. (3) Texts 3 and 8 name real products of 1905 and Adams's 1905 judgments of them. The patent-medicine language ("nostrum," "quack") is his. The page leaves out nothing offensive; the omissions are marked [...] and explained in each text's source note.
1For first of all, when Cæsar's testament was openly read among them, whereby it appeared that he bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome seventy-five drachmas a man; and that he left his gardens and arbors unto the people, which he had on this side of the river Tiber, in the place where now the temple of Fortune is built: the people then loved him, and were marvellous sorry for him.
[...]
2Afterwards when Cæsar's body was brought into the market-place, Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to the ancient custom of Rome, and perceiving that his words moved the common people to compassion, he framed his eloquence to make their hearts yearn the more; and taking Cæsar's gown all bloody in his hand, he laid it open to the sight of them all, shewing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people.
Plutarch, translated by Sir Thomas North, Life of Marcus Brutus, in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch (Caesar's will and Antony's funeral oration), as quoted in the notes of The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar (Text 6, homework) (1579; this edition 1908). Public domain (published 1908). Source text.
1Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Cæsar put it on; 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, 5That day he overcame the Nervii: Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: See what a rent the envious Casca made: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, 10Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it, As rushing out of doors, to be resolved If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no: For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel: Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar loved him! 15This was the most unkindest cut of all; For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; And, in his mantle muffling up his face, 20Even at the base of Pompey's statua, Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. 25O, now you weep, and I perceive you feel The dint of pity: these are gracious drops. Kind souls, what weep you when you but behold Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here, Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
30First Cit. O piteous spectacle!
Sec. Cit. O noble Cæsar!
Third Cit. O woful day!
Fourth Cit. O traitors, villains!
First Cit. O most bloody sight!
35Sec. Cit. We will be revenged.
All. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III, scene 2, lines 168-204 of the Cambridge Edition (Antony shows the crowd Caesar's mantle) (Text 7, homework) (1623; this edition 1865). Public domain (published 1865). Source text.
1In time some predaceous bacillus, having eluded the "killer," carried off its inventor. His nostrum soon languished. To-day it is little heard of, but from the ashes of its glories has risen a mightier successor, Liquozone. Where twenty years ago the microbe reveled in publicity, to-day we talk of germs and bacteria; consequently Liquozone exploits itself as a germicide and bactericide. It dispenses with the red wine of the Radam concoction and relies on a weak solution of sulphuric and sulphurous acids, with an occasional trace of hydrochloric or hydrobromic acid. Mostly it is water, and this is what it "cures":
3--all diseases that begin with fever--all inflammations--all catarrh--all contagious diseases--all the results of impure or poisoned blood. In nervous diseases Liquozone acts as a vitalizer, accomplishing what no drugs can do."
4These diseases it conquers by destroying, in the human body, the germs which cause (or are alleged to cause) them. Such is Liquozone's claim.
5[...] Mr. Smith, with the intuition of genius, and something more than genius' contempt for limitations, proceeded to catch the public eye with this frank assertion: "Liquozone is liquid oxygen--that is all."
6It is enough. That is, it would be enough if it were but true. Liquid oxygen doesn't exist above a temperature of 229 degrees below zero. One spoonful would freeze a man's tongue, teeth and throat to equal solidity before he ever had time to swallow. If he could, by any miracle, manage to get it down, the undertaker would have to put him on the stove to thaw him out sufficiently for a respectable burial. Unquestionably Liquozone, if it were liquid oxygen, would kill germs, but that wouldn't do the owner of the germs much good because he'd be dead before they had time to realize that the temperature was falling. [...]
Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Great American Fraud, chapter III, Liquozone (excerpts from the opening of the article) (Text 8, homework) (1905; this edition 1906). Public domain (published 1906). Source text.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a glossary for Texts 1 and 2: mislike (dislike), humour (whim), afeard (afraid), graybeards (old men), expounded (explained), cognizance (a badge), liable (subject)
Pre-highlight the matching phrases in Texts 1 and 2 in the same color before students sort them
Offer frames: "Plutarch writes ___, but Shakespeare changes this to ___. The change shows ___." and "Adams claims ___. His evidence is ___, which is relevant/sufficient because ___."
For Advanced Students
Read Act II, scene 2, lines 1-54 and decide whether Shakespeare's Calpurnia is more or less superstitious than Plutarch's, who "was never given to any fear and superstition"
Find the full Plutarch passage in a library copy of North's translation and explain what the 1908 edition's four dots leave out
Look up the temperature at which oxygen boils and write a short correction note for Adams's Liquozone article, explaining whether the error weakens his argument
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong writing opens with a claim a reader could dispute, quotes both texts exactly with paragraph or line citations, and follows every quotation with analysis that explains what the words do. In the literature paragraph, look for the step from noticing a change to explaining its effect on character, theme or audience. In the nonfiction paragraph, look for a clear separation of claim, reason and evidence, a judgment of relevance and sufficiency for specific pieces of evidence, and precise names for flaws such as a hasty generalization or evidence attached to the wrong claim. Reflection sentences should say what the evidence revealed, not repeat the claim.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Kept, Changed, Added: Plutarch and Shakespeare Card Sort
20 minGroups of 3
Groups sort six cards, each pairing a sentence from North's Plutarch (quoted in the 1908 Hudson edition's notes) with the lines Shakespeare wrote from it (Cambridge Edition). They label each card and turn one card into a claim with evidence. The cards come from other scenes of the play, so the sort practices the same questions on new material.
The Six Cards
Card 1. Plutarch: "'the Ides of March be come.'--'So they be,' softly answered the soothsayer, 'but yet are they not past.'" Shakespeare (Act III, scene 1, lines 1-2): Caesar: "The ides of March are come." Soothsayer: "Ay, Cæsar; but not gone."
Card 2. Plutarch: "As for those fat men, and smooth-combed heads, quoth he, I never reckon of them; but these pale visaged and carrion lean people, I fear them most" Shakespeare (Act I, scene 2, lines 192-195): Caesar: "Let me have men about me that are fat, / Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: / Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; / He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."
Card 3. Plutarch: "found that one of the beasts which was sacrificed had no heart" Shakespeare (Act II, scene 2, lines 40-43): Servant: "They could not find a heart within the beast." Caesar: "Cæsar should be a beast without a heart / If he should stay at home to-day for fear."
Card 4. Plutarch: "she took a little razor, such as barbers occupy to pare men's nails, and, causing her maids and women to go out of her chamber, gave herself a great gash withal in her thigh" Shakespeare (Act II, scene 1, lines 299-302): Portia: "I have made strong proof of my constancy, / Giving myself a voluntary wound / Here in the thigh: can I bear that with patience / And not my husband's secrets?"
Card 5. Plutarch: "talk falling out amongst them, reasoning what death was best, he, preventing their opinions, cried out aloud, 'Death unlooked for.'" Shakespeare (Act II, scene 2, lines 32-33): Caesar: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once."
Card 6. Plutarch: "saw Brutus with a sword drawn in his hand ready to strike at him: then he let Casca's hand go, and casting his gown over his face, suffered every man to strike at him that would." Shakespeare (Act III, scene 1, line 77): Caesar: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Cæsar!"
Procedure
Label each card Kept, Changed, Added or Cut. A card can earn two labels, for example Kept and Changed
For each card, underline the words that match and circle the words that are new
Choose one card and write a claim sentence about what Shakespeare's change does, with one quotation from each side
Sort Key (for the teacher)
Card 1: Kept and compressed; the soothsayer's reply shrinks to four words, "but not gone." Card 2: Kept and changed; Plutarch's Caesar fears lean men in general, "meaning Brutus and Cassius," while Shakespeare's names only Cassius and adds a reason, "He thinks too much." Card 3: Kept, then Added; the omen is almost word for word, and Shakespeare adds Caesar's own reading of it as a test of his courage. Card 4: Kept; the self-inflicted wound in the thigh stays, and in both texts it is Portia's proof that she can be trusted with a secret. Card 5: Changed; a dinner-table remark about the best death becomes a general statement about cowards and the valiant. Card 6: Added; Plutarch's Caesar says nothing and covers his face, while Shakespeare gives him three words to Brutus. The 1908 edition's notes suggest the Latin phrase was already familiar in Elizabethan England.
Discussion Questions
On which cards did Shakespeare keep North's wording most closely? Why might a playwright keep the exact words?
Cards 3 and 5 both show Caesar talking about fear. What pattern do they suggest about Shakespeare's Caesar?
Which card would make the best evidence for a paragraph about Brutus, and why?
Variation for Fewer Copies
Project one card at a time. Students hold up one, two, three or four fingers for Kept, Changed, Added or Cut, then defend their vote with the exact words.
2
Argument Audit: Relevant, Sufficient, Valid?
20 minPairs
Pairs audit six short arguments, all invented for practice. For each they decide whether the evidence is relevant and sufficient and whether the reasoning is valid, and they name any fallacy. Then they connect the audit to Adams.
The Six Argument Cards (invented for practice)
Card A: "The new cafeteria menu is a failure. My three friends at lunch said they hate it."
Card B: "Weekly library visits rose from 210 to 305 after the library started opening at 7:15 a.m., according to the librarian's sign-in log for the fall semester."
Card C: "A famous basketball player says SuperShine shampoo is the best, so it must be the best."
Card D: "Either we ban phones from the building or students will never learn anything."
Card E: "Since the town painted the footbridge blue, more people have been late to work. The paint is making people late."
Card F: "The label on Vita-Glow Tonic says it cures colds, headaches and tiredness, so it works."
Procedure
For each card, write the claim in a few words and the evidence in a few words
Mark the evidence relevant or not, and sufficient or not, with one reason
Name the problem, if there is one: hasty generalization, appeal to an authority outside his or her field, false dilemma, false cause, or a claim supported only by the seller
Rewrite one weak card as a sound argument by changing the evidence, not the claim
Audit Key (for the teacher)
Card A: relevant but not sufficient; three friends are not the whole school (hasty generalization). Card B: relevant and fairly strong, since it uses a real count over a semester; a careful writer still asks what else changed that fall. The rise is 95 visits a week, about 45 percent. Card C: an athlete is not an expert on shampoo (appeal to an authority outside the field). Card D: false dilemma; there are other policies. Card E: false cause; one event followed another, which does not show that the first caused the second. Card F: the only evidence is the seller's own claim, the kind of evidence Adams attacks.
Discussion Questions
Which card's evidence is relevant but not sufficient? What would make it sufficient?
Card F and Adams's Text 3 both deal with a product's claims. How is Adams's evidence different from Vita-Glow's?
Is it possible for every piece of evidence to be true and the reasoning still be invalid? Use a card to explain.
3
Evidence Paragraph Workshop with a Research Check
25 minIndividual, then pairs
Each student drafts one analytical paragraph from the lesson texts, checks one fact with research, and trades with a partner for a peer review built on the four moves: claim, evidence, analysis, reflection.
Choose a Prompt
Prompt A (literature): How does Shakespeare transform one moment from Plutarch, and what does the change do? Use Texts 1 and 2 or one card from Activity 1.
Prompt B (literary nonfiction): How convincing is Adams's case against Peruna in Text 3? Evaluate at least two pieces of his evidence.
Drafting Checklist
The first sentence is a claim someone could disagree with
At least two quotations, copied exactly and cited by paragraph or line
Every quotation is followed by at least one sentence of analysis
Prompt B only: the paragraph names one gap in Adams's evidence or one weakness in his reasoning
The last sentence reflects on why the point matters
Research Check (10 minutes)
Pick one fact your paragraph depends on and check it in an authoritative source, such as a library database, an encyclopedia or a government or university site. Prompt A writers might check when North's translation appeared or when Julius Caesar was first performed. Prompt B writers might look up what the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 required. Record the source in one line and note whether it confirmed, corrected or added to what the lesson texts say.
Peer Review Questions
Underline the claim. Could someone disagree with it?
Put a check next to each quotation that is exact and cited. Is any quotation left without analysis?
Which sentence does the most analytical work? Which could be cut?
Did the research check change anything in the paragraph?
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: What Shakespeare Kept, Changed, Added and Cut from Plutarch
Five moments from the morning of the Ides of March. The left column quotes North's Plutarch (Text 1); the right column shows what Shakespeare wrote (Text 2, line numbers in parentheses). Each arrow is labeled with the kind of change. A written analysis goes one step further and explains what each change does.
Diagram 2: Mapping Adams's Argument about Peruna
Adams's argument in Text 3, delineated: the central claim, the two reasons that support it and three pieces of evidence. The map shows where each piece fits; students add their own judgment of whether each piece is relevant and sufficient.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
W.9-10.9 Homework: The Funeral Scene and the Liquozone Case
Directions: Use Texts 6, 7 and 8 in the Closure section of the lesson plan. Quote exactly, and cite Texts 6 and 8 by paragraph and Text 7 by line.
Part 1: Shakespeare's Source for the Funeral (Problems 1-2)
Make a four-row chart comparing Text 6 with Text 7: one detail Shakespeare kept, one he changed, one he added and one he left out of this speech. For each row, quote the words from both texts (or write "not in Text 7") and give the citations.
Write an analytical paragraph of 150-200 words that answers this question: How does Shakespeare transform Plutarch's account of Antony showing "Cæsar's gown all bloody" into Antony's mantle speech, and what does the change show about Antony as a speaker? Open with a claim, use at least two quotations from each text with citations, and explain each one.
Part 2: Evaluate the Liquozone Case (Problems 3-4)
Delineate the argument in Text 8. Quote two claims the makers of Liquozone make for their product, then state Adams's counterclaim in your own words. Which of the makers' statements does Adams show to be false in paragraph 6, and how does he show it?
Evaluate Adams's reasoning in paragraph 6. Is his argument against the liquid-oxygen claim valid? Does it prove that Liquozone cannot cure the diseases listed in paragraph 2? Explain the difference between refuting one claim and refuting all of them, and describe one kind of evidence that would test the claim that Liquozone kills germs inside the body.
Part 3: Revise, Research and Reflect (Problems 5-6)
Each sentence below misuses Text 8. Name the problem in each, then rewrite one of them as a sound sentence with a quotation and a citation. (a) "Adams proves Liquozone is useless because he makes fun of it." (b) "Liquozone's list names dozens of diseases, so it must have been tested on thousands of patients." (c) "Radam's Microbe Killer failed, so every germ-killing medicine will fail."
Adams's articles appeared in 1905 and 1906, while Congress was debating the Pure Food and Drug Act, which became law on June 30, 1906. Using one authoritative source, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's history pages or the Library of Congress, find what the 1906 law required of medicine labels. Write three or four sentences connecting that requirement to Text 3 or Text 8, with a citation for your source. Then write two sentences reflecting on how evaluating Adams's evidence changes the way you read a health claim today.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Evidence
Quotations are exact, well chosen and cited by paragraph or line from the right text
Evidence is accurate but thin, or some citations are missing
Evidence is misquoted, invented or absent
Analysis of the transformation
Explains what Shakespeare kept, changed, added and cut and what each change does
Lists changes with little explanation of their effect
Summarizes one text without comparing
Evaluation of the argument
Separates the makers' claims from Adams's, judges validity, relevance and sufficiency, and names specific flaws
Judges the argument in general terms or names a flaw without explaining it
Agrees or disagrees without evaluating
Research and reflection
Finds and cites an authoritative source and connects it to the text; the reflection is specific
Source is weak or loosely connected; the reflection is general
No source, or no reflection
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
The questions use Texts 1-5 in the lesson plan: Plutarch (Warm-Up), Shakespeare and the model paragraph (Direct Instruction), Adams on Peruna (Guided Practice) and the weak draft (Independent Practice). Paragraph and line numbers match the numbers beside each text. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Plutarch's Decius warns that the senators may be told to come back "when Calpurnia should have better dreams" (Text 1, paragraph 2). Which line in Text 2 keeps this taunt most closely?
Answer: B
Line 47 repeats Plutarch's phrase "better dreams" and keeps it as a mocking remark someone might make about Caesar. A is part of Decius's new reading of the dream, which is not in Plutarch. C is Caesar describing how Calpurnia reads her dream, a different detail. D is Caesar speaking to Calpurnia after he has been persuaded, so it answers the taunt instead of repeating it.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 1, Decius asks who could stop the senators from thinking "his dominion a slavery unto them and tyrannical in himself." In Text 2, lines 48-49, what does Shakespeare's Decius say people will whisper instead, and what does the change aim at?
Answer: D
Decius warns, "shall they not whisper / 'Lo, Cæsar is afraid'?" Plutarch's worry about looking like a tyrant becomes a worry about looking like a coward, which is the charge Caesar cannot stand. A is Plutarch's version, so it misreads which text is which. B confuses Calpurnia's suggested excuse ("Say he is sick") with Decius's warning. C mixes in the soothsayers, whom Shakespeare's Decius never mentions.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
How does each text end the scene of Caesar's decision?
Answer: A
Plutarch ends with Decius acting: "he took Cæsar by the hand, and brought him out of his house" (Text 1, paragraph 2). Shakespeare ends with Caesar's own words: "Give me my robe, for I will go" (Text 2, line 55). The change makes the decision Caesar's. B reverses the two texts. C is wrong because Calpurnia never gives in; Caesar calls her fears "foolish." D describes Caesar's plan before Decius persuades him.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Plutarch's narrator explains why Decius wants Caesar to go: "fearing that if Cæsar did adjourn the session that day, the conspiracy would be betrayed" (Text 1, paragraph 2). What happens to this explanation in Text 2?
Answer: C
In Text 2 Decius says he speaks out of "my dear dear love / To your proceeding" (lines 50-51). Shakespeare drops the narrator's explanation, so an audience that already knows Decius is a conspirator hears the stated reason as a lie. A misreads lines 50-52, which are an apology, not a confession. B misreads "Say he is sick," an excuse, not a warning about Decius. D has no support in Text 2.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Plutarch reports that Calpurnia "prayed him, if it were possible, not to go out of the doors that day" (Text 1, paragraph 1). What does Shakespeare add when Caesar describes her request (Text 2, lines 29-30)?
Answer: A
Caesar says she "on her knee / Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day." The kneeling is a physical detail that Plutarch's "prayed him" does not include. B and D appear in neither text. C confuses her with the soothsayers, whose sacrifices Plutarch mentions but who do not plead for her in either text.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which is the strongest claim sentence to open an analytical paragraph about Texts 1 and 2?
Answer: D
D is arguable and specific, and it can be proved with lines from both texts, for example by setting Plutarch's "she prayed him" beside Calpurnia's words and Caesar's answers in Text 2. A is a fact, so there is nothing to argue. B is a summary. C is a personal preference with no textual basis; "exciting" cannot be supported with a quotation.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student claims: "Shakespeare's Caesar cares more about looking brave than about the truth of the omens." Which line from Text 2 best supports this claim?
Answer: B
In line 10 Caesar rejects both excuses that would make him look weak, and he calls "I dare not" the worse lie. He is managing how he looks. A is Decius's line and says nothing about bravery. C is Decius explaining the dream. D shows Caesar's trust in Decius, not his concern with looking brave.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 3, paragraph 1, why does Adams mention Greene's Nervura and Paine's Celery Compound?
Answer: A
Adams writes that Peruna took their place "for the same reason which made them popular. The name of that reason is alcohol." In this excerpt the comparison is asserted, not proved: he gives no figures for the older tonics. B reverses his point. C and D invent facts: Text 3 connects Hartman only with Peruna and reports no tests.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 3, paragraph 4, what does the former Peruna agent's estimate support, and how strong is it?
Answer: C
Adams writes, "so a former Peruna agent estimates, its cost ... is between fifteen and eighteen cents a bottle. Its price is $1.00." The estimate is relevant to profit, but it is one unnamed person's estimate, so it is weaker than a record. A attaches it to the wrong claim: the estimate is about cost, not about the formula. B misreads it as a sales figure. D overlooks that the profit point helps explain why the makers advertise so hard.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
The footnote says Dr. Grinnell "asserts as a provable fact" that more alcohol is consumed in patent medicines than is sold by licensed liquor dealers, apart from ales and beer. Why is this evidence not sufficient as it appears in Text 3?
Answer: D
The footnote reports only what Grinnell "asserts"; readers cannot check his numbers. The claim may be true, but in this excerpt it rests on his authority alone. A misreads the footnote, which leaves ales and beer out. B dismisses a source because of its type, an unfair generalization. C contradicts Text 3, which says the rest of Peruna is "water and cologne spirits."
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Adams's recipe mixes half a pint of cologne spirits with a pint and a half of water (Text 3, paragraph 4). What fraction of the mixture is cologne spirits, and does it match the proportion in paragraph 3?
Answer: D
Half a pint plus a pint and a half is two pints, and half a pint is one fourth of two pints. So the recipe is three parts water to one part spirits, matching "roughly in the proportion of three to one." A divides the spirits by the water (half a pint over a pint and a half) instead of by the whole mixture. B treats the two liquids as equal amounts, and C gives the water's share, three fourths, as the spirits' share. Since 190 proof is 95 percent alcohol, the mixture is a little under one fourth alcohol.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 3, paragraph 1, Adams describes Peruna's owner as "Dr. S. B. Hartman, of Columbus, Ohio (once a physician in good standing)." How should a careful reader evaluate the words in parentheses?
Answer: C
The parenthesis hints that Hartman lost his standing, which may weaken his authority, but it gives no evidence about Peruna itself; the case about Peruna has to rest on the formula and the recipe. Treating it as proof, as A does, is an attack on the person, not on the product. B reverses the tone of "once." D invents tests that Text 3 never mentions.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 5, what is the main problem with sentence [4]?
Answer: B
Sentence [4] says Adams "proves that Peruna is dangerous" because of a cost estimate. Cost is relevant to profit, not to health, so the evidence does not support that claim. A is wrong: the sentence reports the estimate in the student's own words. C is wrong: the sentence gives the cost from Text 3, fifteen to eighteen cents, and no price at all. D describes sentence [1].
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 5, what reasoning error does sentence [5] make?
Answer: C
Grinnell's claim is about the total alcohol in all patent medicines. A total can be large even if many medicines contain little alcohol, so "every patent medicine must be mostly alcohol" goes beyond the evidence: a hasty generalization. A is wrong: Grinnell is in Text 3's footnote. B describes an error the sentence does not make, since it mentions no price. D is wrong: the sentence makes a claim, just an unsupported one.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
In Text 2, Caesar tells Decius about the dream "for your private satisfaction, / Because I love you" (lines 21-22). In Text 1, Caesar never describes the dream to Decius. Explain, with evidence from both texts, how this change sets up what Decius does next.
Model answer: Plutarch says Caesar "put such confidence" in Decius (Text 1, paragraph 2) but only tells us so. Shakespeare shows that trust in action: Caesar shares the dream "Because I love you" (Text 2, line 22) and so hands Decius the very image he needs. Decius immediately turns it around: "This dream is all amiss interpreted" (line 31). The change makes Caesar's trust the tool of his own undoing. Rubric line: 2 points for a clear explanation with a quotation from each text; 1 point for an explanation with evidence from only one text; 0 if the answer only retells the scene.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Rewrite sentence [2] of Text 5 so that the quotation is introduced, cited and followed by at least one sentence of analysis.
Model answer: Adams opens with his central claim, calling Peruna "a stimulant pure and simple" that "sails under the false colors of a benign purpose" (Text 3, paragraph 1). The metaphor of a ship flying a false flag suggests that the danger is not only the alcohol but the disguise: people who would never buy liquor buy it as medicine. Rubric line: 2 points for a signal phrase, an exact quotation, a citation and real analysis; 1 point if one of these is missing; 0 if the quotation is still dropped in.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Adams says Peruna is "the more dangerous" because it poses as a medicine (Text 3, paragraph 1). Explain the reasoning that links the disguise to the danger, and decide whether Text 3 gives enough evidence for it. Name one kind of evidence that would make the claim stronger.
Model answer: The reasoning is that a drink sold as medicine reaches people who avoid alcohol and would take it by the dose, so they drink alcohol without knowing it. The reasoning is valid, but Text 3 does not prove the danger: it shows what Peruna contains ("only water and cologne spirits, roughly in the proportion of three to one") but gives no cases of harm or data on who bought it. Records of patients harmed, or a survey of buyers who avoided alcohol, would make it sufficient. Rubric line: 2 points for explaining the reasoning, judging sufficiency with a quotation and naming useful evidence; 1 point for two of these; 0 otherwise.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
In Text 4, quote one sentence that presents evidence and one that analyzes it, and explain the difference between them.
Model answer: Evidence: "Instead he tells Caesar that the dream 'was a vision fair and fortunate' (Text 2, line 32)." Analysis: "This reading does not argue with the dream; it turns the same bloody image into praise, so that Caesar hears himself described as the life of Rome." The first sentence reports what the text says and cites it; the second explains what the words do and connects them to the claim about flattery. Rubric line: 2 points for two accurate quotations correctly labeled with a clear explanation; 1 point for correct labels without explanation; 0 if the labels are reversed.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Reflection: In two or three sentences, explain what reading Plutarch (Text 1) showed you about Shakespeare's play (Text 2) that reading the play alone would not. Quote one phrase from each text.
Model answer: Reading the play alone, I thought the fear in this scene was all Calpurnia's. Plutarch says that "it seemed that Cæsar did likewise fear or suspect somewhat" (Text 1, paragraph 1), but Shakespeare's Caesar never admits it; he pins the fear on her: "How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!" (Text 2, line 53). The source shows that Shakespeare chose to make Caesar hide his fear, which makes his pride easier to use against him. Rubric line: 2 points for a specific insight supported by a quotation from each text; 1 point for a general insight or one quotation; 0 if the answer only summarizes.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Research: You want to check Adams's claim that Peruna is "roughly" three parts water to one part alcohol without relying on the makers' word. Name one kind of source you could use, explain why it would be more convincing than the evidence in Text 3, and write the research question you would search.
Model answer: I would look for an independent chemical analysis from the time, for example a report by a state food and drug chemist or an analysis published by a medical association. It is more convincing because the people testing the bottle had no stake in selling it, while Text 3 relies on "an authoritative statement given out ... by its proprietors." Research question: What did independent chemists find when they analyzed Peruna between 1900 and 1910? Rubric line: 2 points for a suitable independent source, a reason tied to Text 3 and a focused research question; 1 point for two of these; 0 otherwise.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does W.9-10.9 mean?
W.9-10.9 means that students in grades 9 and 10 support their writing with evidence drawn from the texts they read, whether they are analyzing, reflecting or doing research.
It connects reading and writing: students write about literature using the grade 9-10 literature standards and about literary nonfiction using the informational text standards, and every point they make rests on quoted, cited evidence.
What are W.9-10.9a and W.9-10.9b?
They name the two kinds of texts students draw evidence from: 9a is literature and 9b is literary nonfiction.
Each gives an example of a Reading standard to apply. For 9a the example is RL.9-10.9, analyzing how an author draws on and transforms source material. For 9b it is RI.9-10.8, delineating and evaluating an argument, including its reasoning and evidence, and identifying false statements and fallacious reasoning.
How is W.9-10.9 different from RL.9-10.9 and RI.9-10.8?
The Reading standards describe what students can do while reading; W.9-10.9 asks them to show it in writing, with evidence.
A student who can explain aloud how Shakespeare changed Plutarch meets part of RL.9-10.9. Writing a paragraph with an arguable claim, exact quotations from both texts, citations and analysis is W.9-10.9.
What does "draws on and transforms source material" look like in student writing?
It looks like a comparison with a claim: the student quotes the source and the later work side by side and explains what the change accomplishes.
Four questions help: what the author kept, changed, added and cut. A list of changes is not yet analysis. The paragraph needs a sentence explaining the effect, for example that Shakespeare's new version of Calpurnia's dream foreshadows the conspirators bathing their hands in Caesar's blood.
Why teach W.9-10.9 with Julius Caesar and Plutarch?
Because Shakespeare built the play from Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch and often kept North's words, so the changes are easy to see and quote.
The official example for W.9-10.9a names Shakespeare, and Julius Caesar is often read in grade 10. Both texts are in the public domain, and school editions have long printed the Plutarch passages beside the play.
How long should the quotations in an analytical paragraph be?
Usually a phrase or a line or two: just enough to prove the point, copied exactly and cited.
Short quotations fit into the student's own sentence and leave room for analysis. Use a slash to mark a line break in verse ("great Rome shall suck / Reviving blood") and cite by line for poetry and plays, by paragraph or page for prose.
What is the difference between relevant and sufficient evidence?
Relevant evidence is about the claim; sufficient evidence is enough to make the claim convincing.
Three friends' complaints are relevant to a claim that a cafeteria menu has failed, but they are not sufficient for a whole school. A semester of library sign-in counts is relevant and much stronger, though a careful writer still asks what else changed. Students should judge both qualities for each piece of evidence, not for the argument as a whole.
Is ridicule a fallacy?
Ridicule is not evidence, so an argument that relies on mockery instead of reasons commits a fallacy, often called an appeal to ridicule.
Writers can still be funny and right. When a text mocks its target, students should separate the jokes from the reasons and evaluate the reasons. Homework Problem 4 asks them to do this with Adams's article on Liquozone.
How does W.9-10.9 connect to research writing?
Research papers depend on the same skill: drawing evidence from sources and explaining how it supports a claim.
W.9-10.7 and W.9-10.8 cover planning research and gathering and citing sources. W.9-10.9 makes sure the evidence is analyzed, not just collected, and that students check the facts a source gives, as the research check in this lesson does.
How does W.9-10.9 change in grades 11-12?
In W.11-12.9 the Reading standards students apply become the grade 11-12 ones.
For literature, the example shifts to foundational works of American literature from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century and how texts from the same period treat similar themes. For literary nonfiction, it shifts to seminal U.S. texts, including constitutional principles, legal reasoning in Supreme Court opinions and works of public advocacy.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to W.9-10.9: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
W.8.9Prerequisite
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts in grade 8 writing
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
RL.9-10.9Parallel
Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work
