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Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 10 / Tuesday
2/6
Week 10 · Argument Writing

Tuesday

Evidence that fits
// A claim, clear reasons, real evidence, and a fair word for the other side
⏱ about 20 min

Tuesday: Evidence That Fits

Raven spreads three cards on the Signal Desk. "Rocket, your garden argument has reasons. Now show me the evidence."

Rocket reads his cards. "The garden needs a shade tent because the seedlings wilt by noon. Also, I like tents."

"What do you notice about the second one?" Raven asks.

Rocket groans. "It is about me, not the garden. It does not fit."

Nova drifts over the corkboard, where last week's Signal is pinned. "Your own paper has a garden report," she says.

Rocket grabs it. "The gardeners moved the seedling trays under the porch roof twice last week. That is evidence!"

"Evidence that fits the reason," Raven says. "Pin it under the right card."

Rocket pins it, then writes a complete sentence beneath it. Fast, but complete.

Learn it: evidence backs a reason

A reason tells why. Evidence shows the reason is true. Evidence can be an example, a quotation from someone, or a detail from a text.

Relevant evidence fits the reason it sits under. Irrelevant evidence is true but about something else. "I like tents" is true and useless.

Raven thinks aloud: "The reason is that seedlings wilt by noon. The Signal report says gardeners moved the trays into shade twice. That detail fits the reason, so it is relevant."

In this course, evidence comes from the text you are given, such as this week's Signal, or from something you saw yourself.

Learn it: complete sentences

Every sentence in an argument needs a subject and a verb and must make sense alone. "Because the seedlings wilt." is a fragment. "The garden needs shade because the seedlings wilt." is complete.

Rocket writes fast and fixes later. His fix: read each sentence alone and ask, "Does this stand up by itself?"

  • Under each reason, write one piece of evidence from the text or from what you saw.
  • Ask: does this evidence fit this reason, or is it just true?
  • Name where the evidence comes from: "In this week's Signal garden report..."
  • Read each sentence alone. A fragment gets joined to its neighbor or finished.

Read it: a mentor argument

Read it
The Community Garden Needs a Shade Tent (an opinion piece from The Signal)
The community garden on Maple Street needs a shade tent over the seedling beds.
First, the seedlings wilt by noon on sunny days.
In this week's Signal garden report, the gardeners say they carried the seedling trays under the porch roof twice last week.
Carrying trays back and forth is slow, and a tent would let the seedlings stay put.
Second, a shade tent would give the gardeners a place to work out of the sun.
One gardener told The Signal, "I plant at seven now, because by ten the beds are too bright to see."
With a tent, the garden could hold its Saturday planting hour at a friendlier time.
Some neighbors may say a tent would block the view of the garden from the sidewalk.
A tent with open sides, set only over the seedling beds, would leave the rest of the garden in plain sight.
The garden gives the block its greenest corner.
A shade tent would help it stay that way all summer long.
CHECK IT: THE SHADE TENT
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What is the claim of this opinion piece?
Which evidence supports the first reason, that seedlings wilt by noon?
What kind of evidence is the gardener's sentence about planting at seven?
Which sentence would be irrelevant evidence for this argument?
Which reason does the quotation about planting at seven support?
Complete sentence or fragment?Complete?
The seedlings wilt by noon on sunny days.?
Because the beds are too bright by ten.?
A tent with open sides over the seedling beds.?
The garden gives the block its greenest corner.?
Carrying trays back and forth every sunny morning.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEA fragment leaves the reader waiting. Join it to its neighbor or give it a subject and a verb.
Which word in the opinion piece names where the first piece of evidence comes from? Type the one word that names the paper.
WHY THIS EXERCISENaming the source tells the reader the evidence came from a text, not from a guess.
Try it
Find one sentence in the shade tent piece that is evidence. Read it to someone and ask them which reason it fits.
Then read them one fragment from the true or false table and ask them to finish it.
Checklist
Under each reason I have one piece of evidence that fits that reason.
I say where each piece of evidence comes from.
Every sentence stands up by itself.

Reasons with evidence are hard to doubt. Tomorrow, in Writing Lab, we give the other side a fair hearing and draft the whole argument.

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