Common Core ELA8th GradeWriting

W.8.9: Draw Evidence from Texts for Analysis

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.9 · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge.

The Official Wording

Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 8, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What W.8.9 Means in Plain English

Eighth graders back their writing with evidence from texts. With fiction, they show how a modern story borrows a myth’s plot pattern or character type and what it makes new. With nonfiction, they judge an argument: whether the reasoning holds, whether the evidence is enough, and what is off topic.

Seventh grade (W.7.9) compares fiction with a historical account of the same period. Eighth grade turns to myths and traditional stories, and its argument work adds spotting irrelevant evidence. Grades 9 to 10 (W.9-10.9) analyze how an author transforms source material and flag fallacious reasoning.

W.8.9 I Can Statements

I can show how a modern story draws on a myth and changes it.
I can quote evidence from both the source and the modern text.
I can judge an argument’s reasoning and spot evidence that is off topic.

W.8.9 Worked Example

Both students saw the myth behind the scene. Only one explained what the author did with it.

Prompt

Read the scene, then write a paragraph analyzing how it draws on the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, in which a father builds wings, warns his son not to fly too high and watches him fall into the sea. Explain what the author makes new. “Theo’s dad had spent two years rebuilding the drone engine in the garage. ‘Keep it under four hundred feet,’ he said, handing over the controller. ‘Above that, the wind takes it.’ Theo watched the altitude climb on the screen: 380, 390. From up there the whole town looked like a map. At 450 the picture tilted, spun, and the drone dropped toward the reservoir.”

Not YetThis story is like the myth of Icarus because Theo flies too high and crashes. Icarus also flew too high. Both of them did not listen to their dads.The match is right, but it is a list of similarities with no quoted evidence from either text. It also skips the half of W.8.9a that matters most: how the material is rendered new.

Meets the StandardThe scene rebuilds the myth of Daedalus and Icarus around a drone. Like Daedalus, Theo’s father is the maker, having “spent two years rebuilding the drone engine,” and like Daedalus he warns his son with a precise limit: “Keep it under four hundred feet.” The pattern of the myth holds as well, since Theo climbs past the limit while “the whole town looked like a map,” the same pull of the view that drew Icarus toward the sun. What the author makes new is who falls: Icarus dies in the sea, but here only the machine drops toward the reservoir, while Theo stays on the ground holding the controller. That change turns a tragedy about a lost son into a story about a son and his father’s work, and it leaves room for the two of them to face what happens next.It names the source material and the modern version, matches a character type (the maker who warns) and a pattern of events (warning, overreach, fall), and quotes the scene for each. Then it does the part most responses skip: it says what is rendered new and what that change does to the story.

Moves to Use

Name the myth and the modern text in the first sentence.Match one character type and one pattern of events, each with a quotation.Point to what the author changes, then explain what the change does.For nonfiction, quote the claim, then judge whether the evidence actually supports it.

Common Mistakes with W.8.9

A list of similarities

“Both fly too high. Both have dads. Both fall.”

Try this: Require a second half to every comparison paragraph that begins “What the author makes new is…” and explains the effect of that change.

Evidence from only one text

Three quotations from the modern story and nothing from the myth

Try this: Give students a two-column evidence chart, myth on the left and modern text on the right, and require a quotation or detail in each.

Agreeing instead of evaluating

In a response to an op-ed: “The author makes a good argument and I agree with it.”

Try this: Have students list each claim with its evidence, then judge whether that evidence is relevant, enough to convince, or off topic.

Where W.8.9 Fits

Comes BeforeW.7.9Apply grade 7 reading: compare fiction with a historical account, and trace and evaluate an argument.

AlongsideRL.8.9Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on myths and traditional stories, the reading behind W.8.9a.RI.8.8Delineate and evaluate an argument and recognize irrelevant evidence, the reading behind W.8.9b.

Comes NextW.9-10.9Apply grades 9 to 10 reading: how an author transforms source material, and false statements and fallacious reasoning.

Practice W.8.9

Quick Check

Which character type from the myth does Theo’s father match, and what evidence shows it?
Daedalus, the maker who warns his son. He “spent two years rebuilding the drone engine” and sets a limit: “Keep it under four hundred feet.”
According to the strong response, what does the author make new?
Who falls. Icarus dies in the sea, but here only the drone drops toward the reservoir, so the story becomes about a son and his father’s work, with room for what happens next.
What does the weak response leave out that W.8.9a asks for?
Quoted evidence from the texts, and any explanation of how the material is rendered new. It only lists similarities.

W.8.9: Other Names

W.8.9CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.9