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Common Core LiteracyGrades 6–8History & Social Studies

RH.6-8.2: Central Ideas and Summaries of Sources

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

All 29 Grades 6–8 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 6-8, Reading: History & Social Studies · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RH.6-8.2 Means in Plain English

Students read a source and say what it is mainly about, then write a short, faithful summary that leaves out what they already know or feel. A mill girl’s 1845 letter home gets summarized as she wrote it, not as a lesson on factory cruelty.

Fifth grade (RI.5.2) asked for two or more main ideas and a summary of the whole text. Grades 6 to 8 apply it to sources whose writers saw their world differently. Ninth and tenth grade (RH.9-10.2) summarize how key events or ideas develop across a source.

RH.6-8.2 I Can Statements

  • I can state the central idea of a primary or secondary source.
  • I can summarize a source in a few accurate sentences.
  • I can keep my own opinions and outside knowledge out of a summary.

RH.6-8.2 Worked Example

The weak summary of this invented letter sounds informed, but its facts come from outside the letter and its central idea is the reader’s, not the writer’s.

Read the Story
From an invented letter, Lowell, Massachusetts, May 1845: Dear Mother, the bell rings us up at half past four, and we are at our looms until seven in the evening, with short breaks to eat.The noise in the weaving room is so great that we speak with our hands, and the lint gets into everything, even our bread.Mrs. Abbott, who keeps our boardinghouse, locks the door at ten and expects us all at meeting on Sunday.Still, after my board is paid I have two dollars a week of my own. I send ten dollars toward the mortgage with this letter, and I have read three books from the library this month.Do not fear for me. I am tired, but I am earning my own way, and I would not trade it for the farm just yet.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: What is the central idea of the letter? Write a short summary that sticks to what the letter says.
Not Yet“Factory owners treated the mill girls cruelly, making them work long hours for almost no pay, and the girls went on strike to fight back. The letter shows how terrible factory life was.”Little of it comes from the letter. The strike is outside knowledge, “almost no pay” contradicts her two dollars a week, and “terrible” is the reader’s verdict. The writer’s own central idea, that the work is worth it, is missing.
Meets the Standard“In an 1845 letter to her mother, a young mill worker describes rising at 4:30 to work at the looms until seven, a deafening weaving room and a strict boardinghouse. She also reports keeping two dollars a week after board, sending ten dollars toward the family mortgage and reading library books. Her central idea is that the work is exhausting but worth it for the money and independence it gives her.”Every detail can be found in the letter, nothing is added from outside, and the central idea is the writer’s own: tired, but earning her own way.
Question Stems to Use
What does the writer most want her reader to understand?Can you point to the line where the source says that?Did this sentence come from the source, from what you already knew, or from what you think?Which details support the central idea, and which can you leave out?Would the writer recognize her letter in your summary?

Common Mistakes with RH.6-8.2

Summarizing what you know instead of what the source says

“The girls went on strike against the owners.”

Try this: Have students check every sentence of the summary against the source and cross out any fact they cannot point to in it.

Letting an opinion slip into the summary

“Her life sounds miserable, and factories were cruel.”

Try this: Ban judgment words like terrible or unfair from the summary, and save the student’s reaction for a separate response sentence afterward.

Listing details without a central idea

“She wakes at 4:30, works at the looms, lives in a boardinghouse and goes to the library.”

Try this: Ask students to name what the details add up to in one sentence before writing the summary, then keep only details that support it.

Where RH.6-8.2 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.5.2Find two or more main ideas, show the details behind each and summarize the text.
AlongsideRI.8.2Trace a central idea through an informational text and write an objective summary.RH.6-8.1Back the central idea of a source with the exact lines that show it.
Comes NextRH.9-10.2Summarize how key events or ideas develop over the course of a source.

Practice RH.6-8.2

Quick Check

  1. What is the central idea of the letter?
  2. Which detail in the weak summary contradicts the letter?
  3. Why does the strike not belong in a summary of this letter?

RH.6-8.2: Other Names

RH.6-8.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2

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.