CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.6
The Standard
Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6—12
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify the question a science or technical author is trying to answer. They explain why the author included an explanation, procedure, or experiment and support their thinking with text evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students state the author's guiding question in their own words. They explain the author's purpose and support it with details from the text's language, structure, or evidence.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name the topic instead of the question the author is addressing. They may confuse the author's purpose with the procedure's goal or rely on text type without citing details.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short lab report excerpt. Ask, “What question is the author trying to answer, what is the author's purpose, and which two details prove it?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a cut-up lab report; they sort the sections, then write the author's guiding question and purpose.
Ask students to cite two details and answer, “What question is the author addressing, and why present the information this way?”
Play Purpose Match with cards showing text excerpts, possible guiding questions, and purposes; teams justify each matched set.
Compare a medicine label and a public health article to identify each author's audience, guiding question, and reason for including specific details.
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Printable RST.9-10.6 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.6, 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: Science & Technical Subjects progression map.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.6
Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.6
Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.6
Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
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