SBAC Crunch Lesson #1

Citing Evidence & Inference

Readers should pay close attention when reading literature. Sometimes information about the characters or plot is directly stated. At other times, a reader must make inferences. An inference is a logical conclusion based on evidence in the text and the reader’s own knowledge. Readers can make inferences when the author doesn’t directly state something but there is evidence to support the conclusion. Readers should be able to cite evidence based on what the text directly says. Readers should also be able to cite evidence to support any inferences they make.

Multiple Choice

What is the first step in identifying key evidence in a text?

• Ask someone else to read the text for you

• Skim through the text quickly

• Ignore the text and guess the key evidence

• Carefully read and understand the text

Multiple Choice

Why is it important to analyze the relevance of evidence?

• To waste time and effort

• To ignore the evidence completely

• To ensure that the evidence is reliable and supports the argument or conclusion.

• To make the evidence more confusing

Multiple Choice

What does inference mean?

• finding details in a story
• Use clues and what you already know to come up with an idea
• Giving a reason for your answer
• Using what I know

Multiple Choice

Tim looked out the window. The house looked so lonely. Tim's father put the last suitcase in the trunk and started up the car. Thor, his dog, put his head on Tim's lap, like he understood how Tim was feeling. "It's okay Thor," he said, "Dad says we will like California." We can infer that...

• Tim is sad because his dog doesn't have a house to live in.

• Tim is taking a trip to visit peolpe he doesn't know.

• Tim is taking Thor to live with his grandmother.

• Tim is moving to California with his family.

Multiple Choice

Joseph and Caitlin were choosing the players for their teams. It was Caitlin's turn to choose, and only Jason was left. Caitlin said, "Jason."

We can infer that…

• Jason was the best player.

• Caitlin wanted Jason on her team.

• Jason was not a very good player.

• Caitlin had a hard time choosing a team member.

Multiple Choice

The reader can infer that the narrator is in charge of the group. Which

sentence from the text best supports this inference?

• There we drove down a dry ravine on our winding way to the river bottoms, stopping now and then to gather a store of wild currants and gooseberries which grew in abundance.

• There was in the company a girl of about Susan's age, whose name was Mary Parker, and from that time I had two companions as I rode in advance of the train.

• I could have found no fault with these new members of our company, for they obeyed my orders without question from the oldest man to the youngest child.

• It was such a sight as I had seen more than once, but to my companions it was terrifying at the same time that it commanded their closest attention.