CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1
The Standard
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6—12
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students take a position on a topic from history, science, or a technical subject. They use relevant facts and sources, explain the link between evidence and claim, and respond to another view.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students make a clear, focused claim about a history, science, or technical topic. They support it with accurate evidence, explain their reasoning, address a counterclaim, and use precise subject terms.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may summarize sources instead of making a claim. They may list evidence without explaining how it supports the claim, ignore counterclaims, or rely on opinion alone.
How to Assess It
- Give students a claim and three source excerpts. Ask them to choose the strongest evidence and write two sentences explaining why it supports the claim.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups claim, evidence, and reasoning cards from a science topic, then have them assemble and defend the strongest argument.
Ask students to write: Which matters more when judging a historical decision, its intended goal or its actual result?
Run an evidence ranking game where pairs score source excerpts for relevance, reliability, and strength before comparing choices.
Have students write a recommendation to the principal about school energy use, using data from utility bills or a classroom energy audit. What is it that makes argument writing in history, science, or technical subjects different from a general opinion essay?
Learning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects progression map.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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