Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 11-12, Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What WHST.11-12.6 Means in Plain English
Seniors publish subject work online, alone or as a team, and treat it as live. When a reader posts an objection or new data arrives, they revise the affected sections, answer the argument on its merits, and log what changed so returning readers can see why the document moved.
Grades 9 to 10 (WHST.9-10.6) use technology to link to other information and display it flexibly. Grades 11 to 12 keep the work current as feedback, new arguments and new data come in. This is the last band, the college and career readiness goal for publishing subject writing.
WHST.11-12.6 I Can Statements
I can publish subject writing online for a real audience.
I can revise a published piece when feedback or new data arrives.
I can log each change so readers can see what moved.
WHST.11-12.6 Worked Example
An engineering team posted its cistern design online, then received two things it had not planned for: a pointed comment and a drier forecast.
Prompt
Your engineering team published an online design document for a rainwater cistern to water the school greenhouse. Section 3 says: “Rain from the 1,200-square-foot gym roof, at the county’s average of 3 inches a month, will supply the greenhouse’s 600 gallons a month with water to spare.” Since publishing, two things have arrived. The district facilities manager commented that the gym roof is coated in tar and asked whether that runoff is safe for vegetables the cafeteria will serve. A teammate then pulled ten years of records from the district weather station, which show July and August averaging only 1.1 inches of rain. The metal-roofed equipment shed beside the greenhouse has 900 square feet of roof, and each inch of rain on 1,000 square feet yields about 620 gallons. Update Section 3.
Not YetUPDATE: Someone said the gym roof might not be safe, and we found out summer is drier than we thought. We will look into this. Rain from the 1,200-square-foot gym roof will supply the greenhouse’s 600 gallons a month with water to spare.The update is stacked on top of a section that still says the opposite. It names neither the facilities manager’s argument nor the weather records, changes no numbers, and “we will look into this” leaves readers with a published design the team already knows is wrong.
Meets the StandardSection 3, revised October 14: Water now comes from the 900-square-foot metal roof of the equipment shed instead of the gym roof. The facilities manager pointed out that the gym’s tar coating can leach compounds into runoff, and since the greenhouse grows vegetables for the cafeteria, a metal roof with a first-flush diverter, which discards the dirtiest water from the start of each storm, is the safer catchment. Our original supply estimate assumed 3 inches of rain a month, but ten years of district weather records (linked here) show July and August averaging 1.1 inches. At that rate the shed roof collects about 610 gallons a month, so once the diverter takes its share, the greenhouse’s 600-gallon need will not be met in a dry summer. We have added a second 550-gallon tank to carry June rain into July and August. The change log at the end of this document records both edits, and the comment thread stays open for the next question.The team revised the section itself rather than stacking a note on top. The facilities manager’s argument is answered on its merits with a new catchment and a diverter, the new rainfall records are linked and used to recalculate supply, the shortfall is stated plainly along with a fix, and the dated revision and change log let returning readers see what moved and why.
Moves to Use
Revise the section the feedback affects instead of stacking a note on top.Answer a new argument on its merits and name who raised it.Link the new data and redo every number it changes.Date each revision and log it so returning readers can see what moved.
Common Mistakes with WHST.11-12.6
The update stacked on top
“UPDATE: we will look into this” above a section that still says the old thing
Try this: Have students rewrite the affected section in place, then add a dated line to a change log saying what moved and why.
Silent edits
Numbers that change between visits with no note of when or why
Try this: Require a change log in every shared document, with the date, the section, the change and the comment or data that prompted it.
Answering the person, not the point
A reply that thanks the commenter and changes nothing
Try this: Ask students to restate each comment’s argument in one sentence, then show in the document exactly what it changed or why not.
Rubric GeneratorFree ToolMake a rubric with rows for answering feedback on its merits, recalculating with new data and keeping a change log.FeedbackNew dataChange log
What two things arrived after the design was published?
The facilities manager’s argument that the tar-coated gym roof may be unsafe for vegetables, and ten years of weather records showing July and August average 1.1 inches of rain.
How does the strong update respond to the new argument?
It moves the catchment to the shed’s metal roof and adds a first-flush diverter, naming the facilities manager’s concern as the reason.
Why does the weak update fall short of WHST.11-12.6?
It posts a note but leaves the published section unchanged, so the document still contradicts the feedback and data the team received.