Using Textual Evidence

What is textual evidence?

• Random facts or opinions from the author

• Specific details or quotes from a text that support or prove a claim or argument.

• Personal anecdotes or experiences

• General knowledge or common sense

Why is it necessary to cite textual evidence?

• To make the text more interesting and engaging.

• To provide additional information about the author's background.

• To summarize the main ideas of the text.

• To support claims or arguments with specific examples from the text.

Why is it important to analyze a text for evidence?

• To identify the author's personal opinion.

• To evaluate the writing style and tone of the author.

• To summarize the main points of the text.

• To determine the validity and reliability of the information provided.

People who can only give a reason of “just because" are taken just as seriously as people who can back up an opinion about a text with Textual Evidence.

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How can you use evidence to support your arguments?

• By ignoring counterarguments and opposing viewpoints.

• By relying solely on emotional appeals and personal beliefs.

• By using personal anecdotes and experiences as evidence.

• By providing factual information, data, research findings, expert opinions, and examples that support your claims.

How can you effectively use evidence to strengthen your arguments?

• Use evidence that is unrelated to your argument

• Present evidence in a confusing and disorganized manner

• Ignore the relevance and credibility of the evidence

• Gather relevant and credible evidence that supports your claims, present it clearly and logically, and explain how it directly supports your argument.

What are some strategies for finding supporting evidence in a text?

• Reading the text multiple times and highlighting important information

• Skipping over unfamiliar words or phrases and focusing on general ideas

• Identifying key words or phrases, looking for direct quotes or citations, analyzing data or statistics, checking for references or citations, considering the author's credentials or expertise

• Guessing the answer based on personal knowledge or assumptions

What are some techniques for analyzing a text for evidence?

• Summarizing the main ideas, conducting a word frequency analysis, analyzing the author's tone, examining the structure of the text, and comparing it to other texts.

• Identifying logical fallacies, conducting a statistical analysis, analyzing the use of figurative language, examining the author's bias, and considering the historical context.

• Using a text analysis software, conducting a sentiment analysis, analyzing the use of rhetorical devices, examining the author's background, and considering the intended audience.

• Close reading, identifying key arguments or claims, evaluating the credibility of sources, examining supporting evidence, and considering the context

Why is it important to use multiple pieces of evidence to support your arguments?

• To strengthen and validate arguments, and counter biases or limitations in individual pieces of evidence.

• To confuse the audience and make the argument seem more complex.

• To save time and effort by not having to find additional evidence.

• To make the argument more subjective and opinion-based.

Sometimes we have to “read between the lines.” Authors don’t always tell us everything. We need to use textual evidence and prior knowledge to understand the text better. 

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