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Common Core ELA6th GradeReading: Informational

RI.6.8: Trace an Argument and Test Its Claims

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.8 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 41 6th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 6, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.6.8 Means in Plain English

Sixth graders follow an argument claim by claim and check what holds each one up. An essay calling the printing press the most important invention in a thousand years may back two claims with dates and numbers, then slip in a third with nothing behind it but confidence.

Fifth graders (RI.5.8) matched each piece of evidence to the point it supports. Sixth grade adds evaluation, because some claims have no support at all. Seventh grade (RI.7.8) asks whether the reasoning is sound and whether the evidence is relevant and enough.

RI.6.8 I Can Statements

  • I can list the claims an author makes in an argument.
  • I can find the reasons and evidence behind each claim.
  • I can spot a claim the author never supports.

RI.6.8 Worked Example

The argument sounds equally sure of itself all the way through, but its support runs out in the last paragraph.

Read the Story
The printing press was the most important invention of the last thousand years.First, it made books cheap enough for ordinary people. Before Johannes Gutenberg built his press in Germany around 1450, a scribe could spend months copying a single Bible by hand. By 1500, printers across Europe had turned out millions of books.Second, it let new ideas spread faster than ever before. In the 1500s, the writings of Martin Luther were reprinted so quickly that hundreds of thousands of copies were in circulation within a few years.Finally, no invention since, not even the internet, has changed the way people think as much. Anyone who disagrees has simply not thought about it carefully.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Trace the author’s argument. Which claims are supported by reasons and evidence, and which are not?
Not Yet“The author proves the printing press was the most important invention, because there are a lot of facts and the author says anyone who disagrees hasn’t thought about it.”It treats confidence as proof and counts an insult as evidence. It never separates the claims, so it cannot see that one of them has no support at all.
Meets the Standard“The main claim is that the press was the most important invention in a thousand years. Claim 1, that books got cheaper, is supported: a scribe needed months for one Bible, and printers made millions of books by 1500. Claim 2, that ideas spread faster, is supported by the hundreds of thousands of copies of Luther’s writings. Claim 3, that nothing since has mattered as much, has no evidence, and calling doubters careless is not a reason. So the main claim is only partly supported: the press clearly mattered, but the passage never compares it with anything.”It lists every claim, sorts them by their support and then judges the whole argument, which is the step sixth grade adds.
Question Stems to Use
What is the author’s main claim?What smaller claims does the author make to support it?What reason or evidence backs this claim?Is this sentence evidence, or just a stronger way of saying the claim?Which claim would you challenge first? Why?Does the evidence prove the main claim, or only part of it?

Common Mistakes with RI.6.8

Counting confidence as evidence

“Anyone who disagrees hasn’t thought about it, so the author must be right.”

Try this: Ask “What fact or reason would convince someone who disagrees?” for each claim, and mark any claim with no answer as unsupported.

Judging the whole argument at once

“The argument is good because it has facts.”

Try this: Number the claims first and judge each one separately, then decide what that means for the main claim at the end.

Agreeing or disagreeing instead of evaluating

“I disagree because the internet is more important.”

Try this: Separate the two questions: first whether the author supported the claim, and only then whether the student agrees with it.

Where RI.6.8 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.5.8Explain which reasons and evidence support which of an author’s points.
AlongsideSL.6.3Lay out a speaker’s argument and tell supported claims from unsupported ones, the listening side of the skill.W.6.1Write an argument whose claims rest on clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Comes NextRI.7.8Judge whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence relevant and sufficient.

Practice RI.6.8

Quick Check

  1. What is the author’s main claim?
  2. What evidence supports the claim that the press made books cheaper?
  3. Which claim has no reasons or evidence behind it?

RI.6.8: Other Names

RI.6.8CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.8

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.