Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What W.9-10.1 Means in Plain English
Ninth and tenth graders argue a substantive question, such as dropping library fines, with a precise claim set apart from the opposing one. Both sides get evidence and an honest account of strengths and limits, pitched to what the reader knows and worries about, in a formal, objective voice.
Eighth grade (W.8.1) asks students to acknowledge and distinguish the opposing claim. Grades 9 to 10 develop it fairly, with evidence on both sides and the limits of the writer’s own case said out loud. Grades 11 to 12 (W.11-12.1) add knowledgeable claims and the audience’s values and biases.
W.9-10.1 I Can Statements
I can state a precise claim and set it apart from the opposing one.
I can develop the counterclaim fairly, with evidence, strengths and limits.
I can link claims, reasons and evidence in a formal, objective voice.
W.9-10.1 Worked Example
Both students read the same library board packet; only one gave the other side its best case before answering it.
Prompt
Should the Ashgrove Public Library stop charging overdue fines? Write an argument for the library board that develops the strongest counterclaim fairly. From the board packet: fines brought in $9,400 last year, about 1 percent of the library’s budget; 1,260 borrowers, most of them teenagers and east-side families, cannot check out anything because they owe more than $10; and the head of circulation, Dolores Fenn, writes that fines are “the only reminder some patrons respond to.” Nearby Carver County dropped its fines two years ago, and its share of books returned within a month of the due date fell from 96 to 94 percent.
Not YetLibraries should get rid of fines because fines are unfair to poor people and they barely make any money. Some people say fines make people return books, but that is just not true. Libraries are supposed to be for everyone, so fines should go.There is a claim, but “that is just not true” waves the counterclaim away instead of developing it, and the packet already shows a small drop in returns the writer ignores. “Poor people” and “barely any money” stand in for the 1,260 blocked borrowers and the 1 percent figure, and the tone argues with the board instead of informing it.
Meets the StandardThe Ashgrove Public Library should stop charging overdue fines, because they raise little money while locking 1,260 borrowers out of the collection. The strongest case for keeping them comes from the library’s own staff: circulation head Dolores Fenn writes that fines are “the only reminder some patrons respond to,” and Carver County partly bears her out, since its on-time returns slipped from 96 to 94 percent after fines ended. That evidence deserves weight, but it also marks the limit of the concern, because a two-point drop cost Carver County some late books, not its collection. On the other side, the fines bring in $9,400, about 1 percent of the budget, and the borrowers they block are mostly teenagers and east-side families, the readers a public library exists to serve. Dropping fines has a limitation of its own, since the board would need to replace that $9,400, yet keeping replacement charges for books that never come back would protect the collection without blocking anyone over a late one. Ending overdue fines, then, would cost the library little and give its shelves back to the readers who need them most.The claim is precise and arrives first. The counterclaim gets its best evidence, the staff quotation and the Carver County drop, before the writer names its limitation, and the writer admits a limitation of the claim too, the lost $9,400: that fair development of both sides is what W.9-10.1b adds. Replacement charges answer the board’s real worry, but, since and then link the sections, and the conclusion follows from the weighing.
Moves to Use
State a precise claim, with its main reason, in the first sentence.Give the counterclaim its best evidence before answering it.Name a strength and a limitation for both sides, including your own.Answer the reader’s real worry, not the weakest version of it.Link each turn with words like but, since and then, and keep the tone objective.
Common Mistakes with W.9-10.1
Dismissing instead of developing
“Some people say fines make people return books, but that is just not true.”
Try this: Require the counterclaim paragraph to quote or cite one piece of the other side’s evidence before any rebuttal sentence appears.
A claim with no weak spots
An essay where every fact favors the writer and the claim never costs anything
Try this: Ask students to write one sentence beginning “The limit of my position is…” and answer it in the next sentence.
Arguing at the audience
“Anyone who supports fines obviously doesn’t care about kids.”
Try this: Name the real reader, such as the library board, and have students list that reader’s two biggest worries before drafting.
What evidence does the strong response give for the counterclaim before answering it?
Dolores Fenn’s statement that fines are “the only reminder some patrons respond to,” and Carver County’s on-time returns slipping from 96 to 94 percent after fines ended.
Which limitation of its own claim does the strong response admit?
Dropping fines costs the library $9,400 a year, money the board would have to replace. The writer answers it by keeping replacement charges for books that never come back.
Why does “that is just not true” fall short of W.9-10.1b?
It dismisses the counterclaim instead of developing it fairly. The packet holds evidence for the other side, and the writer neither cites it nor weighs its strengths and limitations.