Using text evidence in the extended response on the Ohio English II test: selecting relevant evidence from the source passages, quoting or paraphrasing it accurately, and explaining how each piece supports the claim or develops the controlling idea, rather than dropping quotations without analysis. This is the core of the Evidence and Elaboration domain.

What this skill is asking

The extended response on Ohio's State Test for English Language Arts II is a text-based essay, which means its evidence comes from the passages and nowhere else. But quoting a passage is not the same as using it. The marks in the Evidence and Elaboration domain go to a response that selects relevant evidence, brings it in accurately, and then explains how it supports the claim or develops the controlling idea. A response that drops quotations and walks away, or lists them like a shopping receipt, leaves most of those marks on the table. This page covers how to choose evidence that actually fits your point, how to quote or paraphrase it cleanly, and, most importantly, how to explain it so the reader sees the connection. The transferable skill, the same one behind the reading items in text evidence and inference, is making the text do the work of proof.

Choosing evidence that fits

Good evidence is not the most striking line in the passage; it is the line that supports your point.

Before you copy a line into your essay, ask whether it actually supports the point of the paragraph. The most common waste is quoting a line because it is dramatic, then discovering it does not connect to the claim. Pick evidence for fit first. You can quote a short phrase exactly (with quotation marks) or paraphrase a detail in your own words; both count, and paraphrase is often cleaner for plot or background. Either way the evidence must be accurate to the passage, because misquoting or misreading the text undermines the whole point.

Explaining the evidence

This is where most of the marks live, and where weak essays fall short.

A useful habit is to never let a quotation be the last thing in a sentence or a paragraph. If a quotation ends your paragraph, you have almost certainly skipped the explanation. Add a sentence that begins "this shows" or "this matters because" and link the evidence back to your claim. The work of developing and ordering these point-evidence-explanation units across the essay is the subject of developing and organizing the response.

Bringing evidence in cleanly

How you introduce evidence affects how clearly the reader follows your reasoning.

Try this

Q1. What three-part pattern makes evidence earn full points? [Recall]

• Cue. Point, evidence, explanation: state the point, give the evidence from the text, then explain in your own words how it supports the claim or controlling idea.

Q2. Improve this sentence so it earns evidence marks: "The character is kind. 'He gave the stranger his coat.'" [Short explanation]

• Cue. Add the explanation: "The character is kind. When 'he gave the stranger his coat,' he put a stranger's comfort ahead of his own, which shows a generosity that costs him something." The added sentence links the action to the trait, turning a dropped quotation into explained evidence.