Referring to details in an informational text

0:00- [David] Readers, I wonder if I'm being entirely responsible when I tell you that I'm about to hand you an extremely dangerous tool. Granted, it's a language tool. It's called text evidence, and you can use it to convince anyone of almost anything. It's when you take details from a text and you connect them to a point that you're making.

0:19Using evidence from the text to support what you're trying to say proves that you've understood what you read. It helps you think about the text more deeply. When you are talking or writing about a text, how do you find text evidence to support ideas? Let's go through how to do it.

0:36First, make sure you understand the idea you wanna support. Make sure you know exactly what you're trying to say or what a question on a test is asking. Then look for details and examples in the text that directly support that idea. If I'm gonna argue that it's cold outside, pointing out that someone outside is wearing a baseball hat doesn't directly support that idea.

0:57The person might be wearing a hat because their head is cold, but they might just like baseball. But pointing to an icicle on the window is direct support for that idea. There can only be an icicle outside because it's cold. Finally, explain how the detail or the example connects to the idea you want to support.

1:16It's not enough to just find the evidence. You need to explain how the evidence helps support your idea. Let me demonstrate this for real with a piece of text. I'll read it and then I'll go through the steps I just described. "In 1963, a woman named Katharine Graham took charge "of the 'Washington Post,' a famous newspaper.

1:34"She was the first woman to lead a major American company. "She worried that other people at the newspaper "wouldn't respect her. "At first, she had trouble getting the men "at the office to trust her. "Sometimes men would ignore her ideas in meetings, "but she made many brave decisions.

1:49"She published important stories about the government "and she uncovered lots of crimes. "She became one of the greatest publishers "of the 20th century." So I've read the text and the text gave me an idea about Katharine Graham, and the idea is Katharine Graham wasn't always respected by the people she worked with.

2:07Well, what does it mean to be respected, to be trusted, to be liked, to be believed, right? So I'm looking for details that tell me that Graham wasn't always trusted, liked, or believed. This is step one, understanding the idea you need to support. Step two, what details support that idea?

2:23What evidence in the text is proof of that idea? The text says she was worried that other people wouldn't respect her. That's not entirely on target, even though it has the word respect in it. I see that there. This detail shows that she was afraid that she would not be respected, but that's not evidence of it actually happening, right?

2:43But if we keep reading, I see she had trouble getting the men at the office to trust her. I said that part of being respected is being trusted. So that seems directly related to the idea I'm trying to support. There's one more detail that seems related to my idea.

2:59"Sometimes men would ignore her ideas in meetings," jackpot. That's also related to the idea I'm trying to support. Step three, now I need to explain how these two pieces of evidence support my idea. First piece of evidence, she had trouble getting the men at the office to trust her, and there's no respect without trust.

3:20That shows she wasn't always respected. Second piece of evidence, sometimes men would ignore her ideas in meetings. It's pretty disrespectful to ignore someone in a meeting or otherwise. Think about how you feel when someone ignores you. That's a detail that shows that Graham wasn't always respected too.

3:38To make my point about Katharine Graham, I need to be able to point to specific details in the text. Otherwise, it's just vibes and you can't prove anything based on vibes. Because you are determined and because you believe in yourself and because you have the brain power to succeed, I firmly believe that you can learn anything. David, out.