CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2b
The Standard
Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient 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 support an informative topic with accurate facts, examples, definitions, details, and quotations. They select enough evidence for the reader and explain how each piece builds understanding.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A strong writer chooses specific support from trustworthy sources and blends it smoothly into the explanation. The reader can understand the topic without unanswered basic questions or unrelated details.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often pile up facts without explaining them, use broad examples, or add quotations that repeat the same point. They may assume readers know key terms or include every source detail rather than choosing useful support.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Expand “Later school start times affect teenagers” into a five-sentence explanation using one fact, one concrete example, and clear explanation.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups an envelope of evidence cards about sleep; students sort them into useful, weak, and irrelevant, then defend two choices.
Ask students to explain the same topic to a fifth grader and a parent, then compare which details and definitions each audience needs.
Play Evidence Draft: teams choose facts, examples, definitions, and quotations from a source bank to build the clearest paragraph.
Have students revise a school club information page by adding the details a new student would need before joining.
Free download
Printable W.9-10.2b Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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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
Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2b
The Grades 9–10 version of this standard.
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