CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9
The Standard
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6—12
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read several sources about one historical topic. They identify differences in perspective, evidence, emphasis, and interpretation. They compare those choices using specific details from the sources.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can identify each author’s role, purpose, and likely audience. The student explains meaningful similarities and differences in claims, evidence, omissions, and tone. Each comparison uses details from more than one source.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat primary sources as automatically accurate and secondary sources as automatically biased. They often list surface differences without explaining how perspective or purpose changes an account. Some compare unrelated facts instead of examining how sources handle the same event or issue.
How to Assess It
- Give students a diary excerpt and a textbook paragraph about the same event. Ask them to identify two differences in treatment and support each with a source detail.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs four source cards on the Boston Massacre to sort by source type, viewpoint, evidence, and emphasis.
Ask students to write: How does each author’s role shape what the account includes, leaves out, or calls important?
Run a source-match game where teams pair claims with excerpts, then defend which accounts agree or conflict.
Compare a city press release and two news reports about the same protest, noting differences in wording, evidence, and focus.
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Printable RH.9-10.9 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: History/Social Studies progression map.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.9
Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.9
Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.9
Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.
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