Virginia SOL 7.RI.3.B
The Standard
Compare and contrast how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations or viewpoints of key information by emphasizing different facts, opinions, and reasoning.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Integration of Concepts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read two or more texts on one topic and mark the facts, opinions, and reasoning each author emphasizes. They compare those choices and explain how they shape each author’s viewpoint.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name a meaningful similarity and difference between the texts, then support each point with accurate evidence. The student explains how chosen facts, opinions, or reasoning lead readers toward a particular view.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may compare only the main ideas and ignore how the authors build their views. They may treat every statement as a fact, or judge an author by whether they personally agree.
How to Assess It
- Give students two short passages about school uniforms. Ask them to identify one difference in emphasis and explain, using evidence, how it shapes each author’s viewpoint.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs printed articles and three sticky-note colors to label facts, opinions, and reasoning, then place matched points side by side.
Ask: Which author seems more supportive of the topic, and which two choices in the text create that impression?
Play Evidence Match: teams pair excerpt cards by shared idea, then earn a point for explaining how the authors use each idea differently.
Compare two local news reports about the same event and list which details each outlet puts in the headline and opening paragraph.
Free download
Printable 7.RI.3.B Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 7.RI.3.B, 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 worksheetKeep exploring
Related Standards
- 9.RI.3.A
Compare the perspectives and viewpoints of two or more authors regarding their treatment of the same or similar topics, including the details they include and e...
- 6.RI.3.B
Compare and contrast one author’s presentation of ideas or events with another’s, identifying where the texts agree or disagree.
- 8.RI.3.B
Compare and contrast how two or more authors present conflicting information on the same topic by assessing where the texts disagree in reasoning and evidence.
- 10.RI.3.A
Evaluate how different authors write about the same topic and shape their presentations or viewpoints of key information using facts, opinions, and reasoning.
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.