Choosing Evidence for Your Own Paragraph
IntroducedFinish this sentence before you use anything
- I am using this piece because it ...
- If you cannot finish that sentence, the evidence is not chosen — it is available.
- Evidence chosen for a stated reason produces commentary almost by itself.
Choosing a quotation only because it is nearby is like hiring the first person in a queue as your expert witness.
Three good reasons
- ... it illustrates a claim that would otherwise stay abstract.
- ... it establishes credibility on a subject where readers may doubt you.
- ... it connects your position to a value the audience already holds.
Why was this piece chosen?
Match each piece of evidence to the reason it earns its place.
The reason you chose a piece of evidence should become...
The hardest sentence to write is one you already had when you selected the evidence.
Select all the good reasons this lesson gives for choosing a piece of evidence.
Length is not a reason; each piece must do a job the others do not.
Cutting evidence
- Under time pressure, more evidence feels safer. It is not.
- Each piece you keep must earn the space with a job the others do not do.
- Two pieces doing the same job is one piece and some wasted words.
Including more evidence is generally safer under time pressure.
Two pieces doing the same job earn the marks of one and use the space commentary needed.
More evidence is not safer. Two pieces doing the same job earn the marks of one and cost you the space that commentary needed — and commentary is where four of the six rubric points live.
Match each situation to the reason for choosing evidence.
The audience's obstacle decides which piece of evidence earns its place.
From reason to commentary
- The reason you chose the evidence is the first sentence of your commentary.
- "I chose this because it shows the cost was known in advance" becomes "This matters because it shows the cost was known in advance."
- The hardest sentence to write turns out to be one you already had.
Read the claim and the commentary while skipping the ____ — they should still connect.
If the commentary only makes sense with the quotation in view, it is summary.
A check before you move on
- Read the claim, then the commentary, skipping the evidence entirely.
- Do they still connect? If yes, the commentary is doing its job.
- If the commentary only makes sense while looking at the quotation, it is summary.
A student cites three statistics that all show the same decline. The second and third add nothing the first did not, and the paragraph runs out of room before any commentary appears. One statistic and two sentences of commentary would have scored higher.
Choose each piece of evidence for a stated reason — to illustrate, to build credibility, or to connect to a value the audience holds. That reason becomes your first commentary sentence, and two pieces doing the same job earn the marks of one.