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Common Core LiteracyGrades 11–12History & Social Studies

RH.11-12.7: Integrating Sources in Many Formats

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 29 Grades 11–12 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 11-12, Reading: History & Social Studies · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RH.11-12.7 Means in Plain English

Juniors and seniors pull together maps, tables, photographs and written records to answer one historical question, and weigh how far each can be trusted. Explaining why the 1918 flu hit Philadelphia so much harder than St. Louis takes a chart, a photograph and two documents.

Ninth and tenth grade (RH.9-10.7) folded a census table or chart into the reading of a written account. Grades 11-12 juggle several formats at once and judge what each can and cannot show. This is the last band of the line, the research reading of college and career readiness.

RH.11-12.7 I Can Statements

  • I can draw the key information from a photograph, chart or document.
  • I can judge what each source can show and what it cannot.
  • I can combine sources in different formats into one answer.

RH.11-12.7 Worked Example

The photograph and the chart describe real records from the fall of 1918; the notice and the diary are invented for this page and set in the same weeks.

Read the Story
The question: Why did the influenza of the fall of 1918 hit Philadelphia so much harder than St. Louis?Source A, a photograph, Philadelphia, September 28, 1918: crowds stand shoulder to shoulder along Broad Street to watch a parade selling Liberty Loan war bonds. The city let it go ahead even though sailors at its Navy Yard had fallen ill more than a week before.Source B, a line chart of weekly deaths per 100,000 people, drawn from each city’s health records: Philadelphia’s line climbs steeply in the first days of October to one tall, narrow peak in mid-October. St. Louis’s line is still nearly flat in the first week of October, then climbs slowly and peaks far lower.Source C, an invented notice in a St. Louis paper, October 7, 1918: “By order of the Health Commissioner, all theaters, moving-picture shows, schools, pool halls, churches and dance halls will close tonight until further notice.”Source D, an invented diary of a Philadelphia shopkeeper, October 3, 1918: “Today the city closed the schools, churches and theaters at last. Half my street is sick. I cannot see what good it does to shut the doors now.”
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Using all four sources, why did the fall wave hit Philadelphia so much harder than St. Louis, and what can each source not show?
Not Yet“Philadelphia had a parade, and the photo shows huge crowds, so the parade caused all the deaths. St. Louis didn’t have a parade, so it was fine.”It rests on one striking image and overclaims. The photo shows a crowd, not sickness, and the answer ignores the chart’s timing, the closing dates in the two documents and the fact that St. Louis still lost people.
Meets the Standard“The sources point to timing. Philadelphia let a huge crowd gather (Source A) after sailors at the Navy Yard had already fallen ill, and it closed public places only on October 3 (Source D), when the shopkeeper says half the street was sick. The chart (Source B) shows Philadelphia’s deaths climbing steeply to a tall peak in mid-October. St. Louis closed theaters, schools and churches on October 7 (Source C), while its line was still nearly flat, and its peak came later and far lower. Each source has limits: the photo shows a crowd, not who caught the flu there; the chart shows deaths, not causes; and the cities differed in other ways. Together they support early closing as a strong factor, not the only one.”It uses every source for what it shows best, lines up the dates in the documents with the shape of the chart, and states each source’s limits before reaching a measured conclusion.
Question Stems to Use
What does this source show that none of the others can?What can this source not show, and which other source helps fill that gap?How do the dates in the written sources line up with the chart?What other differences between the places might explain the pattern?How strong a conclusion do the sources support together?

Common Mistakes with RH.11-12.7

Letting one image carry the argument

“The parade photo proves the parade killed thousands.”

Try this: Ask students what each source cannot show and to name another source that covers that gap before drawing a conclusion.

Reading the chart without the dates

“St. Louis’s line is lower, so St. Louis had better doctors.”

Try this: Have students mark each written source’s date on the chart’s time axis, then describe what the line was doing at that moment.

Treating a pattern as the only cause

“Closing early is the one and only reason St. Louis did better.”

Try this: Require one sentence naming another difference between the places that could explain part of the pattern, and how to check it.

Where RH.11-12.7 Fits

Comes BeforeRH.9-10.7Integrate a chart or census table with the written account of the same period.
AlongsideRI.11-12.7Integrate and evaluate sources in different media to address a question or solve a problem.RST.11-12.7Integrate data, visuals and text in science to address a question or solve a problem.
Comes NextRH.11-12.9Integrate primary and secondary sources into a coherent account, noting where they disagree.WHST.11-12.8Gather information from multiple sources and assess the strengths and limitations of each.

Practice RH.11-12.7

Quick Check

  1. What does the photograph show, and what can it not show?
  2. How do the closing dates in the two cities line up with the chart?
  3. Why do the sources support early closing as a strong factor but not the only one?

RH.11-12.7: Other Names

RH.11-12.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.