Common Core ELA7th GradeReading: Informational

RI.7.1: Cite Several Pieces of Text Evidence

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

The Official Wording

Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 7, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.7.1 Means in Plain English

Seventh graders back every claim about a nonfiction text with more than one quotation, and they do it for inferences as well as for stated facts. Saying that life survived Mount St. Helens under cover takes the gophers, the snow-buried seedlings and the roots together, not one handy line.

Sixth graders (RI.6.1) cited evidence for what a text states and implies, and one good quote often did the job. Seventh grade raises the count: an inference stands on several quotes that point the same way. Eighth grade (RI.8.1) asks for the strongest evidence, not simply more of it.

RI.7.1 I Can Statements

I can support a claim about a text with several quotations.
I can use evidence to back up an inference, not just facts.
I can explain how each quotation supports my point.

RI.7.1 Worked Example

The question asks for an inference, and the weak answer props it up with a single quotation that covers only part of it.

Read the Story

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted. A sideways blast of hot rock and gas flattened forests across about 230 square miles, and ash buried the ground for miles beyond.Scientists expected the blast zone to stay lifeless for decades. That first summer, they found survivors. Pocket gophers, which spend most of their lives in tunnels, had ridden out the blast underground. As they dug, they pushed old soil up through the ash.Patches of snow still covered the higher slopes that morning. Under the snow, young fir trees and small shrubs were bent flat but unburned, and they grew again when the snow melted.Roots and buried seeds sprouted where the ash was thin. Most large animals in the blast’s path, such as elk and deer, were killed.

A short passage written for this page.

Question: What can you infer about which living things survived the blast? Support your inference with several pieces of evidence.

Not Yet“Things that were underground survived, because the passage says pocket gophers ‘had ridden out the blast underground.’”The inference is half right and rests on one quotation about one animal. It misses the plants saved by snow, which show that being covered, not just being underground, was what mattered.

Meets the Standard“Living things that were covered or sheltered survived. Pocket gophers ‘had ridden out the blast underground,’ young fir trees under the snow were ‘bent flat but unburned,’ and ‘roots and buried seeds sprouted.’ The text never says this pattern outright, but the contrast supports it: elk and deer out in the open ‘were killed.’”Three quotations from three paragraphs point to the same inference, and a fourth shows the opposite case. The student also says which part the text states and which part is inferred.

Question Stems to Use

What does the text say outright? What does it only suggest?Which three details point to the same inference?Does this quotation prove your point, or only mention the topic?Is there a detail that shows the opposite case?Does all your evidence come from one paragraph? Where else could you look?

Common Mistakes with RI.7.1

One quote for a whole inference

“Things survived underground, because the gophers ‘had ridden out the blast underground.’”

Try this: Require three quotations from at least two paragraphs, and have students explain in one sentence how each one supports the inference.

Stacking quotes without explaining them

Three quotations in a row and no sentence saying what they show together

Try this: Teach a linking sentence after the quotations, “Together these show…”, and mark the answer unfinished until that sentence is written.

Treating an inference as if the text stated it

“The passage says only covered things survived.”

Try this: Have students label each sentence of their answer as stated or inferred, and reword any inference that claims the text said it.

Where RI.7.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.6.1Cite evidence for what a nonfiction text states and what it implies, without a set number of quotations.

AlongsideRL.7.1The same demand for several pieces of evidence, applied to stories, dramas and poems.W.7.9Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis in writing.

Comes NextRI.8.1Choose the evidence that most strongly supports an analysis, not just several pieces.

Practice RI.7.1

Quick Check

What can you infer from the Mount St. Helens passage about which living things survived?
Living things that were covered or sheltered, underground or under snow, survived, while large animals out in the open were killed.
Name two pieces of evidence that support that inference.
Any two of: pocket gophers “had ridden out the blast underground,” young fir trees under the snow were “bent flat but unburned,” and “roots and buried seeds sprouted.”
Does the passage state outright that sheltered living things survived? Explain.
No. It describes each case separately, the gophers, the trees under snow and the buried seeds, and the reader infers the pattern by putting them together.

RI.7.1: Other Names

RI.7.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1