CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2b
The Standard
Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students choose facts, definitions, details, examples, and quotations that clearly explain an informative topic. They match the amount and type of information to what their audience already knows.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can separate strong support from interesting but weak details. They provide enough context and explanation for the intended reader to understand why each fact, definition, example, or quotation matters.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may pile up facts without explaining how they support the topic. They may choose quotations only because they sound authoritative, define familiar terms unnecessarily, or assume readers know specialized vocabulary.
How to Assess It
- Give students a paragraph about later school start times with four possible additions: a statistic, a vague opinion, an unrelated anecdote, and a technical quotation. Ask them to choose one addition and explain why it best serves a parent audience.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Sort printed evidence cards about school start times into strong, weak, or audience-dependent support, then defend two placements.
Write one paragraph explaining which detail a ninth-grade reader needs but a sleep researcher does not, and why.
Play Evidence Draft: teams draw fact, definition, quotation, or example cards and select the best two for a given audience.
Revise a school website announcement by adding one useful fact, one concrete detail, and context for an unfamiliar term.
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Printable W.11-12.2b Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2b, 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
Before This Standard
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.2b
Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.2b
The Grades 11–12 version of this standard.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2b
Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples approp...
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