At the end of the lesson, you are expected to determine textual evidence to validate assertions and

counterclaims made about a text read.

What is textual evidence? Why is it important to identify them?

Let's Review!
Whenever you are asked to express your ideas about a text that you have read, there might be
claims in the text that you agree with, and there might be some claims in the text that you disagree
with.

The writer’s claims in the text try to persuade you to think the way he or she thinks about a topic or
issue. A claim is an arguable statement in a text, and its purpose is to persuade you to believe the
writer’s position about an issue.

Stating your judgment and generalization about claims of the writer in a text is called formulating
evaluative statements.

When you make evaluative statements that show how you agree with claims in a text, you are
actually formulating assertions. Assertions are positive statements about a text read. When you
make evaluative statements that express how you oppose with claims in a text, you are formulating
counterclaims. Counterclaims are statements that oppose the claims of the writer in the text.

Example:
A lot of people waste time driving around when they are lost, and this can be avoided
by asking other people for directions. The trick is to find a person who you think
would point you to the right direction.

Explanation:
The claim about the text above: People should ask directions from strangers when they are lost so
that they do not waste time driving around.

The assertion about the text above: I agree with the claim of the writer that people should ask
directions from strangers to save time by asking someone reliable such as a gas station attendant.

The counterclaim about the text above: I disagree with the claim of the writer that people should
ask directions from strangers. People should not ask strangers for directions because they might
end up getting lost longer if a stranger gives them wrong directions.

Learn about it!

In this lesson, you will learn how to locate and use textual evidence to strengthen your ideas about a
text should you agree or disagree with some claims in the text.
Textual Evidence
In formulating assertions and counterclaims about a text, it is important that you support your
statements with textual evidence. Textual evidence is information gathered from the text that
supports your assertion or counterclaim about the text.

In expressing your judgment about the text,

1. First, state your idea about the text.

2. To determine evidence from the text, look for clues and keywords that support your idea
about the text.
3. Quote or paraphrase the part of the text that helped you come up with your idea.
4. Use quotation marks to quote a part of the text. If it is from a book, indicate the page number
at the end of your sentence.
5. Lastly, express how the quote supports your idea.

Below are types of textual evidence:

Paraphrasing is restating the text in your own words.

Summarizing is restating the text in a shorter way using your own words.

Referencing is mentioning a specific section of the text.

Quoting is stating a part of a text in the exact way it was written.

Support your statements with textual evidence to come up with strong or solid arguments, and make
your ideas more credible. You can come up with good textual evidence by selecting the most
relevant section of the text that strongly supports your statement about the text.

Learn about it!

Example:
An excerpt of Meat Culture

By Steve Pavlina

When I see a piece of flesh on someone’s plate, I also see the processes that
brought it to their plate. Some people argue that plants may be harmed by being
eaten. I happen to agree. If we care about minimizing harm to plants, then we’ll do
much less harm by eating them directly as opposed to grinding them up, feeding
them to animals, and then grinding up and eating the animals. If we stopped growing
crops to feed to animals and fed those crops to people directly, it’s estimated that
we’d have enough food to feed the whole planet five times over. So if you do actually
care about plants, then you can greatly reduce your plant harm by eating plants
directly. Another way to reduce harm to plants is to favor fruits that can be eaten
without killing the plants. You can eat a wide variety of fruits, both sweet and non-
sweet, without seriously hurting the plant that spawned it. And that same plant will
often continue to bear even more fruit. I think a more sensible and realistic approach
 is to keep leaning towards a more conscious, compassionate, and ecologically sound
way of eating.

If you want to argue that we should model predators’ diets to justify meat culture, I
encourage you to go ahead and try being a truly predatory person for a while. Do it
consciously. Prey on the weak. See where that takes you.

Source:
(Pavlina, 2014) link

Learn about it!

Explanation:
Determining textual evidences in the excerpt of Meat Culture:

I agree with the writer that animals are being subjected to cruelty when they are killed
to become our food. This claim of the writer is reflected in the first part of the text
wherein the writer makes the readers think of how the meat ended up on their dinner
plates. The writer deliberately chose to say that whenever he looks at the food on his
plate, he also has mental images of what had to be done to the animal for it to
become someone’s food. By using the phrase “processes that brought it to their
plate,” the readers are made to imagine what an animal goes through just to end up
on our dinner plates.

In the assertion above, the reader starts by saying that he or she agrees with the claim of the writer
in the text. This dictates that the statement is an assertion. The reader used referencing,
paraphrasing, and quoting to support his or her statement. Of all the words in the text, the reader
chooses “processes that brought it to their plate.” to support his or her assertion. It is effective
because the reader explains how the quote supports his or her assertion about the text.

I disagree with the writer when he challenged some people to copy predatory
behavior of animals and prey on the weak. This is reflected in the sentence “Prey on
the weak. See where that takes you.” Although he might have been sarcastic to
prove a point when he said this, it paints an unnecessary violent mental picture for
the readers and some readers might actually take it literally.

In the counterclaim above, the reader states his or her counterclaim and identifies the statement of
the writer that he or she opposes. The reader determines the textual evidence that would support his
or her counterclaim by quoting a portion of the text and explaining how the sentences “Prey on the
weak. See where that takes you.” supports the counterclaim that the sentences are too violent. Of all
the types of textual evidence, the reader chose quoting to make his or her statement credible.

Tips
 In locating textual evidence, decide which type of textual evidence will best support your
statement before locating textual evidence.
 Always look for clues and keywords that support your evaluative statement/s about the text.