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Common Core ELA8th GradeReading: Informational

RI.8.7: Weigh Print, Video and Interactive Media

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.7 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 41 8th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 8, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.8.7 Means in Plain English

Eighth graders judge what each medium does well and badly for one topic. A print article on storm surge can be reread and explains the cause; a video shows the water rising; an interactive map lets a family check their own street. Each choice also costs something.

Seventh grade (RI.7.7) compared a text with its own audio or video version. Eighth grade widens the comparison to different mediums and weighs trade-offs for a purpose. In ninth and tenth grade (RI.9-10.7) students compare accounts of one subject across mediums and note which details each emphasizes.

RI.8.7 I Can Statements

  • I can name what a print text does better than a video.
  • I can explain what a video or interactive map adds and leaves out.
  • I can choose the best medium for a purpose and explain why.

RI.8.7 Worked Example

Three versions of the same topic, one purpose, and the weak answer picks a favorite without weighing anything.

Read the Story
Version A, a print article: Storm surge is ocean water pushed ashore by a hurricane’s winds. It is worst where the sea floor slopes gently, because the water has nowhere to go but up and inland.Version A: During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the surge on the Mississippi coast rose more than 20 feet. Moving water is heavy, and just two feet of it can sweep away most cars.Version B, a 90-second news video: Security-camera footage shows water racing up a beach town’s main street, rising past mailboxes and car doors in minutes, while a reporter explains what is happening.Version C, an interactive map on a weather service website: Readers type in an address and pick a hurricane category, and the map shades their block by how deep the water could get, from under 3 feet to over 9.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: A coastal family has one day to decide whether to evacuate. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each version for that purpose?
Not Yet“The video is the best because it’s the most exciting and shows real water. The article is boring, and the map is just a map.”It picks a winner by how interesting each version feels, not by the family’s decision, and it names no disadvantage of the video or any advantage of the other two.
Meets the Standard“The map serves this family best because it shows the depth at their own address, but it never explains why surge is dangerous, and it needs power and a signal the storm may cut. The video makes the danger real in seconds, yet it shows someone else’s town. The article explains the cause and gives hard facts like Katrina’s 20-foot surge, and a printed copy works without power, but numbers on a page are easy to shrug off. The map should drive the decision; the video and the article make the family take it seriously.”Each medium gets a strength and a weakness tied to the family’s decision, and the answer ends with a judgment about how to use them together.
Question Stems to Use
What can this medium do that the others cannot?What does this medium leave out or make harder?Who is the audience, and what do they need to do with the information?Which version would you rely on for a real decision? Why?If you could combine two versions, which two, and why?

Common Mistakes with RI.8.7

Choosing by what is most fun

“The video wins because it’s exciting.”

Try this: State the purpose at the top of the page and have students judge every medium only by how well it serves that purpose.

Listing only advantages

Three strengths listed and no weakness for any version

Try this: Require a plus and a minus for each medium before any student is allowed to name a winner.

Writing off print as old-fashioned

“Nobody reads articles anymore, so print is useless.”

Try this: Ask what each medium lets a reader do, like reread, pause, zoom or search, and list those abilities before judging.

Where RI.8.7 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.7.7Compare a text with its audio, video or multimedia version and how each portrays the subject.
AlongsideSL.8.2Analyze the purpose of information presented in different media and the motives behind it.RST.6-8.9Compare what a science text teaches with what a video, simulation or experiment shows.
Comes NextRI.9-10.7Compare accounts of one subject in different mediums and the details each emphasizes.

Practice RI.8.7

Quick Check

  1. What can the interactive map do that the print article cannot?
  2. What is one disadvantage of the video for a family deciding whether to leave?
  3. What does the print article give that the other two do not?

RI.8.7: Other Names

RI.8.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.7

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.