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Common Core ELAGrades 9–10Reading: Literature

RL.9-10.1: Cite Strong and Thorough Evidence

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

All 41 Grades 9–10 ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

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

What RL.9-10.1 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders back every part of a reading with evidence: what the story states and each inference built on it. One odd moment proves little. A lamp pulled close at noon, dropped screws and a daughter covering mistakes prove a watchmaker is losing his sight.

In 8th grade (RL.8.1) students picked the single line that proved a point best. Grades 9 and 10 want evidence under every claim, the stated ones and the inferred ones alike. In grades 11 and 12 (RL.11-12.1) students also show where the text leaves a question open.

RL.9-10.1 I Can Statements

  • I can support every claim in my analysis with text evidence.
  • I can separate what a text states from what I infer.
  • I can combine several details to prove an inference beyond doubt.

RL.9-10.1 Worked Example

A watchmaker’s daughter covers for him at the counter, and the story never says what she is hiding, so the evidence has to.

Read the Story
When customers asked for her father, Inés said he was in the back, catching up on repairs, and that was true as far as it went.He sat at the bench all afternoon with the loupe screwed into his eye, though she had noticed the lamp now stayed on even at noon, turned so close it warmed his knuckles.Every evening she gathered the tiny screws he had dropped and sorted them back into their trays by size, and she never once asked how they had fallen.When Mrs. Achterberg came for her husband’s pocket watch, he handed over the wrong one, and Inés was already smiling, already swapping it, already saying the mix-up was hers.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: What does the text state outright about the watchmaker, what can you infer about him and his daughter, and what evidence supports each part?
Not Yet“He is going blind. The text says he handed over the wrong watch.”One detail carries the whole analysis, and that detail could mean a long day. The answer also ignores Inés, so half of what the passage implies has no evidence at all.
Meets the Standard“The text states only that he works in the back and that he ‘handed over the wrong one.’ The inference is that his sight is failing, and the evidence stacks up: the lamp stays on ‘even at noon, turned so close it warmed his knuckles,’ and screws fall often enough that Inés sorts them back every evening. One wrong watch could be fatigue. A lamp pulled that close every day cannot. The second inference, that Inés knows and is covering for him, rests on ‘as far as it went,’ on her never asking ‘how they had fallen,’ and on how fast she takes the blame: ‘already saying the mix-up was hers.’”It separates what is stated from what is inferred, puts more than one line under each inference, and rules out the easy alternative. Thorough means every claim has evidence under it, not one quotation for the headline.
Question Stems to Use
What does the text state outright, and what are you inferring?Which claim in your analysis has no quotation under it yet?What second piece of evidence points the same way as your first?What else could this detail mean, and what rules that reading out?Which line shows what a character knows, not just what she does?

Common Mistakes with RL.9-10.1

One quotation carrying a whole analysis

“He is going blind because he gave back the wrong watch.”

Try this: Have students list every claim in their paragraph, then check that each one has its own quotation under it before they revise.

Blurring stated and inferred

“The text says his eyes are failing.” It never does.

Try this: Teach two sentence frames, “The text states…” and “This suggests…”, and require students to sort each claim under one of them.

Ignoring the other reading

Never asks whether one wrong watch could just mean a tired afternoon

Try this: Ask “What else could this detail mean?” and have students add the evidence that rules the alternative out.

Where RL.9-10.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.8.1Cite the evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of a story, stated or implied.
AlongsideRI.9-10.1Support an analysis of articles, speeches and essays with thorough evidence, stated and inferred.W.9-10.9Draw evidence from literary texts into their own analytical writing.
Comes NextRL.11-12.1Cite the strongest evidence and show where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Practice RL.9-10.1

Quick Check

  1. What does Inés tell customers who ask for her father?
  2. What detail about the lamp suggests his sight is failing?
  3. How does Inés react when her father hands Mrs. Achterberg the wrong watch?

RL.9-10.1: Other Names

RL.9-10.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.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.