Best Evidence

Which piece of evidence could be used to BEST support this claim: High school students should be required to wear uniforms.

• When adding everything up, a school uniform could end up costing more than $200.

• At one school that recently required students to wear uniforms, attendence rates went up, and behavior incidents went down.

• A student reported, "Allowing us to wear our own clothes gives us a chance to show our unique style and independence."

• School uniforms can be ordered online .

Why do we have textual evidence 

• To prove a claim

• unicorn

• because your teacher says so

• to express an opinion

Every day after work Paul took his muddy boots off on the steps of the front porch. Alice would have a fit if the boots made it so far as the welcome mat. He then took off his dusty overalls and threw them into a plastic garbage bag; Alice left a new garbage bag tied to the porch railing for him every morning. On his way in the house, he dropped the garbage bag off at the washing machine and went straight up the stairs to the shower as he was instructed. He would eat dinner with her after he was "presentable," as Alice had often said. Based on the text, how do you know Paul works in construction?

• He has tools

• His boots are muddy and his overalls are dusty

• He goes straight up the stairs to shower

• He wears a hat

The following passage is narrated by a sailor named Charlie Marlow. Select the best evidence to support the statement "The Company was filled with ambitious employees."

"I flew around like mad to get ready and before forty-eight hours, I was crossing the Channel to show myself to my employers and sign the contract. In a very few hours, I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre. Prejudice no doubt. I had no difficulty in finding the Company's offices. It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over sea empire and make no end of coin by trade.

"A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with Venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting right and left, immense double doors standing ponderously ajar. I slipped through none of these cracks, went up a swept and ungarnished staircase, as arid as a desert, and opened the first door I came to."

Adapted from Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

• "I had no difficulty in finding the Company's offices."

• "They were going to run an over sea empire and make no end of coin by trade."

• "It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it."

• "A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with Venetian blinds,

The following passage is narrated by a character named Holden Caulfield. Select the best evidence to support the statement "Holden thinks that older people are set in their ways and unwilling to change." \

She asked me where I went to school now, and I told her Pencey, and she said Pencey was a very good school. Even if I'd wanted to, I wouldn't have had the strength to straighten her out. Besides, if she thought Pencey was a very good school, let her think it. You hate to tell new stuff to somebody around a hundred years old. They don't like to hear it. Then, after a while, I left. It was funny. She yelled "Good luck!" at me the same way old Spencer did when I left Pencey.

From J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye. Copyright 1945 by J. D. Salinger

Submit

• "You hate to tell new stuff to somebody around a hundred years old."

• "She yelled "Good luck!" at me the same way old Spencer did when I left Pencey."

• "They don't like to hear it. "

• "Even if I'd wanted to, I wouldn't have had the strength to straighten her out. "

Select the best evidence to support the statement "The narrator's father is a calm and secure man.

The tiny share we have of time appalls me, though my father seems to regard it with tranquillity. Even my father, who sometimes seems to me to have been at home in the world as long as it has lasted, has really lived on this earth only a little longer than I have, in terms of all the time there has been to live in. He has not known a time, any more than I, when automobiles and electric lights did not at least exist. He was not alive when this century started. I will be barely alive—old, old—when it ends. I do not like to think of it.

From Alice Munro, "Walker Brothers Cowboy." Copyright 1997 by Alice Munro

• "Even my father, who sometimes seems to me to have been at home in the world as long as it has lasted, has really lived on this earth only a little longer than I have, in terms of all the time there has been to live in. "

• "...though my father seems to regard it with tranquillity. "

• "He has not known a time, any more than I, when automobiles and electric lights did not at least exist."

Consider this claim: To increase road safety, undocumented immigrants should be allowed to obtain driver's licenses. Which is the strongest evidence to support the claim?

• "It has nothing to do with if they're in the country legally or illegally," said Julie Powell, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol. "Our main concern is that the people of California are safe, and one way to [do that] is to make sure California drivers are tested, trained, and insured.

• "While undocumented immigrants form the backbone of many key industries in California, exclusion from the ability to apply for a license has meant a simple trip to work or school can easily morph into a nightmare," said Jon Rodney, a spokesman for the California Immigrant Policy Center.

• Experts estimate that in 2012, more than eleven million undocumented immigrants resided in the U.S., and they made up more than three percent of the total population.

Which piece of evidence could be used to BEST support this claim: Reading regularly improves vocabulary skills.

• A) Reading exposes individuals to new words and contexts.

• B) Reading is a fun and enjoyable activity.

• C) Many people enjoy reading in their free time.

• D) Reading can be done in various formats, such as books and e-books.

Why is it important to use evidence in an argumentative essay?

• A) To fill up space in the essay

• B) To support claims and strengthen arguments

• C) To confuse the reader

• D) To make the essay longer

Select the best evidence to support the statement: "The protagonist is a compassionate person."

• A) The protagonist often helps others in need without expecting anything in return.

• B) The protagonist enjoys reading books.

• C) The protagonist travels frequently.

• D) The protagonist has a large family.