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Common Core LiteracyGrades 9–10Science & Technical

RST.9-10.1: Citing the Precise Details of Science Texts

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

Get the Cornell Notes TemplateAll 29 Grades 9–10 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.

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

What RST.9-10.1 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders back their reading of a science text with its precise details: the numbers, units and conditions an explanation depends on. If a manual says a pressure cooker raises water’s boiling point to about 121 °C, that number answers why food cooks faster.

In grades 6 to 8 (RST.6-8.1), students cited evidence from science texts. Ninth and tenth grade add precision: the quotation must carry the exact figure or condition. In grades 11 and 12 (RST.11-12.1), students also note the author’s distinctions and any gaps or inconsistencies in the account.

RST.9-10.1 I Can Statements

  • I can quote the exact numbers, units and conditions a text gives.
  • I can use a text’s explanation to correct a wrong claim.
  • I can tell when my paraphrase blurs a precise detail.

RST.9-10.1 Worked Example

The manual page explains why a pressure cooker is fast and how full to fill it, and the weak answer keeps the gist but loses the numbers and conditions.

Read the Story
Culinary Science Manual, Unit 4. Water in an open pot cannot get hotter than its boiling point, about 100 °C at sea level. Turning up the burner makes it boil harder, but the temperature stays put.A pressure cooker’s locking lid traps steam, and the trapped steam raises the pressure inside to about 15 psi above the air outside. At that pressure, water boils at about 121 °C.Food cooks faster because the water and steam around it are about 21 degrees hotter, not because pressure forces heat or moisture into the food. Unsoaked chickpeas that simmer for about two and a half hours in an open pot are tender in about 40 minutes.The gain is larger at altitude. At 2,000 meters, where an open pot boils at about 93 °C, the cooker still reaches about 117 °C.Fill the pot no more than two-thirds full, and no more than half full for beans, grains or other foods that foam, since foam can clog the steam vent.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: A classmate writes: “A pressure cooker works because the pressure pushes heat into the food, so chickpeas cook faster, and you can fill it to the top.” Use precise details from the text to correct each part of the claim.
Not Yet“The text says the pressure cooker cooks food faster because of the pressure, and it says not to fill it too much. So my classmate is mostly right.”It repeats the classmate’s mistake that pressure itself does the cooking, and “not too much” blurs the text’s two limits, two-thirds full and half full for beans, which is the detail a cook actually needs here.
Meets the Standard“The text says the cooker works by raising the temperature, not by pushing heat in. Trapped steam raises the pressure to ‘about 15 psi above the air outside,’ where ‘water boils at about 121 °C,’ and food cooks faster ‘not because pressure forces heat or moisture into the food’ but because the water around it is about 21 degrees hotter. That is why chickpeas drop from about two and a half hours to about 40 minutes. The filling rule is wrong too: the general limit is two-thirds full, and since chickpeas are beans, the limit is ‘no more than half full,’ because foam can clog the steam vent.”It quotes the figures and conditions the text gives, corrects the cause rather than only the conclusion, and applies the stricter limit for beans instead of the general one.
Question Stems to Use
What exact number or unit does the text give here?Under what condition is that statement true?Which sentence explains why, not just what happens?Does your paraphrase keep the text’s limits, or does it blur them?Which detail would a cook get wrong if they skipped it?

Common Mistakes with RST.9-10.1

Quoting the gist instead of the detail

“The text says pressure makes food cook faster.”

Try this: Have students underline every number, unit and condition in the sentence they cite, then check that their answer keeps each one.

Repeating the misconception the text corrects

Saying the pressure pushes heat into the food, when the text says the opposite

Try this: Ask students to find the sentence that names the cause, including any “not because” clause, and restate both halves in their own words.

Missing the stricter limit

“Don’t fill it too full,” with no mention of the half-full rule for beans

Try this: Have students list every rule the text gives with its exact limit, then mark which rule applies to the case in the question.

Where RST.9-10.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRST.6-8.1Cite specific evidence from science and technical texts to support an analysis.
AlongsideRI.9-10.1Cite strong and thorough evidence for what a nonfiction text says outright and what it implies.WHST.9-10.9Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis and research in science writing.
Comes NextRST.11-12.1Cite evidence while noting the author’s distinctions and any gaps or inconsistencies in the account.

Practice RST.9-10.1

Fill-in-the-Blank GeneratorFree ToolPaste a science passage and blank out its numbers, units and limits, so students have to reread for the precise detail instead of the gist.Paste a passageGrades 9-10Numbers and units
Make a Worksheet

Quick Check

  1. At what temperature does water boil inside the pressure cooker, according to the text?
  2. What does the text say does not make food cook faster?
  3. How full may the pot be for a batch of chickpeas, and why?

RST.9-10.1: Other Names

RST.9-10.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.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.