Virginia SOL 12.R.1.E

ELA12th GradeEvaluation and Synthesis of Information

The Standard

Create research products aligned with the demands of the reading and writing standards.

Virginia Standards of Learning for English

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students develop a focused inquiry question, evaluate sources, and combine evidence into a clear position. They choose a suitable format, cite sources accurately, and revise for purpose and audience.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student frames a focused question, selects credible sources, and builds an original claim from the evidence. The final product fits its audience, explains source connections, and uses accurate citations.
Common Misconceptions: Students may summarize sources one at a time instead of connecting ideas across them. They may treat all sources as equally reliable, drop quotations without explanation, or cite evidence inconsistently.
How to Assess It: Give students two short sources on the same issue. Ask them to write one claim and a five-sentence paragraph that combines evidence from both sources with citations.

Lesson moves

Give groups printed source cards to sort by credibility, relevance, and perspective, then require a brief defense of each placement.
Ask students to write: How do two sources disagree, and which source offers stronger evidence for its position?
Run a synthesis challenge where pairs combine three evidence slips into one claim, one paragraph, and accurate parenthetical citations.
Have students prepare a policy brief for the principal about a school issue, using survey data, an interview, and one published source.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 12.R.1.E, 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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