Thinking Habit 07

Support
Claims

Use quality, relevant, accurate, well-considered evidence to justify claims.

Driving question

What evidence justifies this claim, and how does it support it?

Teacher prompts

  • What exactly are you claiming?
  • Which evidence directly supports that claim?
  • How does the evidence lead to your conclusion?
  • What evidence complicates your claim or limits how far it can go?

What students do

  • State a claim precisely enough to examine.
  • Select relevant, accurate evidence and consider its quality.
  • Explain the connection between the evidence and the claim.
  • Qualify the claim to reflect contrary evidence, uncertainty, or limits.

See the habit in the work

A student offers an interpretation of a character. Supporting the claim requires specific textual evidence and an explanation of what that evidence shows.

Illustrative classroom example · Literacy · Interpreting a character

Draft

Mara is brave.

The information available

In this fictional story, Mara hesitates outside a dark shed. She tells her brother she is frightened, then enters to retrieve their dog.

The interpretation is plausible, but the student has not yet shown the reader what supports it.

Draft

Mara is brave.

Teacher feedback

Which actions or words support “brave”? Explain how they support your interpretation. Does the scene justify a claim about this moment or about everything Mara does?

The teacher asks for evidence and reasoning while keeping the claim within the limits of one scene.

Draft

Mara is brave.

Revised

Mara acts bravely in this scene. She says she is frightened but enters the dark shed to retrieve the dog. Acting despite that fear supports the interpretation that she shows courage here.

What changed: The student cited specific actions and words, explained their significance, and limited the interpretation to the scene.

Try it in class

Claim, evidence, explanation

  1. Ask students to write one claim about a text, data set, or problem they are studying.
  2. Have them select the strongest relevant evidence and explain why it supports the claim.
  3. Ask them to check for conflicting evidence or limits, then revise or qualify the claim as needed.

Make the reasoning visible

Have students record a claim, the evidence and where it came from, the explanation linking them, and any important qualification.

Look for more than a quotation or a list of facts. Evidence should be accurate and relevant, and the explanation should show why it supports the particular claim.