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Common Core LiteracyGrades 6–8History & Social Studies

RH.6-8.8: Fact, Opinion and Reasoned Judgment

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

Make a Sorting QuizAll 29 Grades 6–8 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

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

What RH.6-8.8 Means in Plain English

Students sort a history text’s statements into facts that can be checked, opinions that rest on taste, and judgments the author supports with reasons. An article on the Brooklyn Bridge mixes all three, and the hard part is telling a reasoned judgment from a bare opinion.

Fifth grade (RI.5.8) explained how an author uses reasons and evidence and which reasons support which points. Grades 6 to 8 add the middle category, a view an author earns with evidence. Ninth and tenth grade (RH.9-10.8) assess how well the reasoning and evidence support an author’s claims.

RH.6-8.8 I Can Statements

  • I can explain why a statement is a fact that can be checked.
  • I can tell a bare opinion from a judgment backed by reasons.
  • I can find the reasons an author gives for a judgment.

RH.6-8.8 Worked Example

The weak answer finds the fact but files the author’s well-supported claim about Emily Roebling under plain opinion.

Read the Story
From a magazine article written for this page: The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883, after fourteen years of work. Its main span stretched about 1,600 feet across the East River, the longest of any suspension bridge in the world at the time.Its designer, John Roebling, died in 1869 before construction began, and his son Washington took charge. In 1872, Washington was struck by caisson disease after working in the pressurized chambers beneath the river, and he was too sick to visit the site again for years.For the next eleven years, his wife, Emily Warren Roebling, carried his instructions to the engineers, answered their technical questions and spoke for the project before city officials.It is the most beautiful bridge ever built.And since Emily learned enough engineering to answer the crews’ questions herself, and the work went on without her husband at the site, she deserves to be remembered as one of the bridge’s builders.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Sort these three statements as fact, opinion or reasoned judgment and explain each choice: the bridge opened on May 24, 1883; it is the most beautiful bridge ever built; Emily Roebling deserves to be remembered as one of its builders.
Not Yet“The first is a fact because it has a date. The second and third are both opinions, because they are what the author thinks.”It lumps a reasoned judgment in with a bare opinion. The third statement comes with reasons from the text, that Emily answered technical questions and kept the work going, and that support is what separates a judgment from an opinion.
Meets the Standard“The opening date is a fact, because it can be checked in records from 1883. ‘The most beautiful bridge ever built’ is an opinion: it is a matter of taste, and the author gives no reason for it. The claim about Emily is a reasoned judgment. It is still the author’s view, but the text backs it with evidence: for eleven years she carried instructions, answered engineers’ questions and spoke for the project. A reader can weigh those reasons and agree or disagree.”It sorts all three correctly and explains the test for each: whether it can be checked, whether it is only taste, or whether it is a view supported by evidence.
Question Stems to Use
Could this statement be checked in a record, a photograph or a measurement?Is this a matter of taste, or does the author give reasons?What evidence does the text offer for this view?Would a careful reader who saw the evidence be persuaded, even if some might not be?Which words signal a judgment: deserves, should, most, best?

Common Mistakes with RH.6-8.8

Calling every view an opinion

“Both are opinions because the author thinks them.”

Try this: Ask students to find the reasons behind each view; a view supported by evidence from the text is a reasoned judgment, not a bare opinion.

Treating confident statements as facts

“It is the most beautiful bridge ever built” labelled a fact because the author states it plainly

Try this: Have students ask how the statement could be checked; if no record or measurement could settle it, it is not a fact.

Accepting a judgment without weighing its reasons

“It is a reasoned judgment, so it must be true.”

Try this: Have students list the reasons a judgment rests on and decide whether they are strong enough to convince a skeptical reader.

Where RH.6-8.8 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.5.8Explain which reasons and evidence support which of an author’s points.
AlongsideRI.8.8Trace and evaluate an argument, judging whether its reasoning is sound and its evidence enough.WHST.6-8.1Support a claim about history with logical reasoning and accurate data from credible sources.
Comes NextRH.9-10.8Judge how far an author’s reasoning and evidence support the claims.

Practice RH.6-8.8

Jeopardy Game MakerFree ToolBuild a review game with Fact, Opinion and Reasoned Judgment columns, each square a statement from the unit for teams to classify and defend.FactOpinionReasoned judgment
Make a Game

Quick Check

  1. Which statement in the passage is an opinion, and why?
  2. What makes the claim about Emily Roebling a reasoned judgment?
  3. How could you check that the bridge opened on May 24, 1883?

RH.6-8.8: Other Names

RH.6-8.8CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8

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.