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Common Core LiteracyGrades 9–10History & Social Studies

RH.9-10.1: Cite Evidence and Check Its Date and Origin

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

All 29 Grades 9–10 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Reading: History & Social Studies · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RH.9-10.1 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders quote a letter, a treaty or a historian’s account to back a point, and they check when and where each source was written before leaning on it. A cloth dealer writing days after the Great Fire of London outweighs a pamphlet printed fifteen years later.

Middle school (RH.6-8.1) asked students to cite evidence from primary and secondary sources. Ninth and tenth grade add a check on each source’s date and origin. In eleventh and twelfth grade (RH.11-12.1), students connect what single details reveal to an understanding of the whole document.

RH.9-10.1 I Can Statements

  • I can quote exact words from a primary or secondary source.
  • I can note when, where and by whom a source was written.
  • I can explain how a source’s date and origin affect its reliability.

RH.9-10.1 Worked Example

The two sources disagree about how the fire began, and the weak answer trusts the one that sounds more certain.

Read the Story
Source A, a letter from a London cloth dealer to his brother in Bristol, dated 8 September 1666 (invented): “The fire broke out about one of the clock on Sunday morning, in the house of a baker in Pudding Lane. A strong east wind drove it through streets of timber houses and riverside warehouses full of oil and pitch, and it burned four days before the wind fell.”Source A, later in the letter: “Some in the streets cry that the Dutch, with whom we are at war, set it, and a poor Frenchman was nearly torn apart by a crowd, but I have seen no proof of any such plot.”Source B, a pamphlet printed in London in 1681, fifteen years after the fire, during a panic over a supposed Catholic plot against the king (invented): “It is now beyond all doubt that the late dreadful fire was kindled by Papists, who hoped to seize the kingdom from the ashes of its capital.”Source B, later: “A Frenchman confessed the deed and was put to death for it. What more proof can an honest man require?”A historian’s note: the Frenchman, a watchmaker named Robert Hubert, was executed in October 1666, but it later emerged that he had not reached London until after the fire began.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Which source gives stronger evidence about how the fire started, and how do the date and origin of each source shape your answer? Cite both sources.
Not Yet“Source B is better because it is certain. It says the fire was set ‘beyond all doubt,’ and a man even confessed and was put to death.”It mistakes a confident tone for strong evidence. It never notices that Source B was printed fifteen years later in the middle of a political panic, and it repeats the confession without the historian’s note that undoes it.
Meets the Standard“Source A is the stronger evidence for how the fire began. The cloth dealer wrote on 8 September 1666, within days of the fire, from inside London, and he gives details a reader can check: it started ‘in the house of a baker in Pudding Lane,’ and ‘a strong east wind’ drove it through timber houses. He even reports the rumors of a foreign plot and says, ‘I have seen no proof.’ Source B was printed in 1681, fifteen years later, during a panic over a supposed Catholic plot, so its author had a reason to blame ‘Papists.’ Its only evidence is a confession, and the historian’s note shows the man ‘had not reached London until after the fire began.’ Source B is good evidence of what Londoners feared in 1681, not of what happened in 1666.”It weighs each source by when, where and why it was written, quotes the details that make Source A reliable, and still finds a use for Source B: as evidence of a later panic.
Question Stems to Use
When was this source written, and how long after the event?Who wrote it, where were they, and could they have seen what they describe?What might the author have wanted readers to believe, and why at that moment?Which details are specific enough to check against another source?What is this source good evidence for, even if it is weak on the event itself?

Common Mistakes with RH.9-10.1

Trusting the most confident source

“Source B says it is ‘beyond all doubt,’ so it must be right.”

Try this: Have students underline each source’s date and author before reading its claims, and ask what that writer could actually have known.

Noting the date without using it

“Source B was written in 1681,” and the answer moves on without saying why that matters

Try this: Require a “so what” sentence after every date: how long after the event, and what was happening when it was written.

Throwing out a biased source entirely

“Source B is biased, so it is useless.”

Try this: Ask students what each source is good evidence for, since a 1681 pamphlet reliably shows what Londoners feared that year.

Where RH.9-10.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRH.6-8.1Cite specific evidence to support an analysis of primary and secondary sources.
AlongsideRI.9-10.1Cite strong and thorough evidence for what an informational text says and implies.WHST.9-10.9Draw evidence from primary sources into history writing to support analysis.
Comes NextRH.11-12.1Connect insights from specific details to an understanding of the source as a whole.

Practice RH.9-10.1

Quick Check

  1. Where and when did the cloth dealer in Source A say the fire began?
  2. Why does the date of Source B weaken it as evidence of how the fire started?
  3. What is Source B good evidence for?

RH.9-10.1: Other Names

RH.9-10.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1

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.