Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 11-12, Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What WHST.11-12.9 Means in Plain English
Seniors back their own analysis with evidence pulled from what they read in the discipline: a geological survey, a court record, an equipment manual. They choose the passage that settles the point, quote or paraphrase it exactly, explain what it shows, and say where the text leaves the question open.
The wording matches WHST.9-10.9, so the change is in the texts: denser reports, studies and primary sources from the grades 11 to college band, and analysis that weighs them. This is the last band, the college and career readiness goal for using evidence in history, science and technical writing.
WHST.11-12.9 I Can Statements
I can find the passage that best supports my point.
I can explain what a quotation or figure actually shows.
I can say where a text leaves a question unsettled.
WHST.11-12.9 Worked Example
Two students answered the same question from the same survey report. One cited it; the other reasoned with it.
Prompt
In earth science, write an analysis paragraph answering this question with evidence from a state geological survey’s report on Callard County: Did wastewater injection cause the county’s earthquake swarm? Key passages: “In the ten years before 2014, the county averaged two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater per year. In 2017 it recorded 46.” “Most of the 2017 earthquakes occurred within 5 kilometers of the county’s four high-volume injection wells, in the rock just below the injection zone.” “After the state ordered injection volumes cut by 40 percent the following year, the annual count fell to 19 within a year and to 7 within three.” “The swarm lies along a fault that had not been mapped before it began. Whether the fault was already close to failure cannot be determined from the present data.”
Not YetThe report says that there were 46 earthquakes in 2017. It also says there are injection wells and a fault. This proves that wastewater injection caused the earthquakes.Facts are copied from the report, but none is explained or connected to the question. The paragraph never says why the timing, the location or the drop after the cut points to injection, and “proves” claims more than the report allows, since the report itself says the fault’s condition beforehand cannot be determined.
Meets the StandardThe report’s evidence points strongly to wastewater injection as the main trigger of the swarm, though it stops short of proof. Timing is the first clue: the county averaged two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater a year before 2014, then recorded 46 in 2017. Location tightens the link, since most of those earthquakes struck within 5 kilometers of the four high-volume wells, in the rock just below where the water went in. The strongest evidence is what happened when the suspected cause was reduced: after the state cut injection volumes by 40 percent, the annual count fell to 19 within a year and to 7 within three. The report is careful, however, to note that the fault was unmapped before the swarm and that “whether the fault was already close to failure cannot be determined from the present data.” Injection, in other words, appears to have set off the swarm, but how much it contributed compared with stress already stored in the fault remains open.Each piece of evidence is chosen for what it shows about cause: timing, location and, strongest of all, the decline after the cut, which works like an experiment. The writer explains every figure instead of listing it, quotes the report exactly where its own wording matters, and uses the report’s stated limit to set the claim’s strength, a trigger rather than a proven sole cause.
Moves to Use
Pick the evidence that bears on the question, not every fact in the text.After each quotation or figure, say what it shows and why it matters.Order the evidence from suggestive to strongest.Quote the text’s own limits and let them set how strong your claim is.
Common Mistakes with WHST.11-12.9
Evidence with no analysis
A figure from the report followed directly by the next figure
Try this: Require a sentence after every quotation or number that begins “This shows” or “This matters because,” then revise it into smoother prose.
Claiming more than the text supports
“This proves injection caused the earthquakes.”
Try this: Have students find the text’s own hedges and limits, then match their claim’s strength to what the source actually says.
Name-dropping the source
“The report says…” used as proof by itself
Try this: Ask students to replace each “the report says” with the specific passage and an explanation of how it supports their point.