CEI CLAIM, EVIDENCE, INTERPRETATION

WHAT IS IT? A structure for writing analytical or argumentative paragraphs Way to make a strong case for your insights into a reading or topic It’s not about counting sentences It is about developing your ideas It is not a summary

PART ONE: CLAIM First sentence Expresses your main argument or idea Similar to topic sentence or thesis statement Not what to read but how to read

TELL ME MORE! OK! The claim conveys your belief/argument about a “big idea” in the work you are reading Claims are NOT facts, but conclusions you draw from the facts It is possible for someone to have a different opinion (that’s why you need to support your claim)!

EXAMPLES OF CLAIMS Henry Aaron’s essay, “I Had A Hammer,” illustrates a champion that is as humble as he is talented. In “The Prologue,” the illustrated man symbolizes human creativity and imagination. Ray Bradbury uses strong imagery to portray a horrifying picture of reality in “The Veldt.”

YOUR EXAMPLES “Marionettes, Inc.” illustrates that clones in the future could be dangerous. In “Marionettes, Inc.,” Ray Bradbury incorporates the common idea of the future to explain what could happen if clones were possible. “Marionettes, Inc.” showcases one of the possibilities of artificial intelligence: robots turning on humans.

EVIDENCE The PROOF for your point In Literary Analysis, it consists of: Word-for-word quotations from the text (primary source) Paraphrasing of the text (don’t try this yet) Word-for-word quotations from reliable secondary sources, like a published book review (don’t try this yet, either)

QUOTE YOUR MATERIAL PROPERLY Sometimes it seems that the illustrations have a dream-like quality. For example, the illustrated man says, “I could keep a carnival day job. But at night—the pictures move. The pictures change” (p.3). Notice: comma before the quotation Notice: page citation after quotation and in parentheses Notice: end-punctuation after the page citation

QUOTE YOUR MATERIAL PROPERLY The narrator compares the illustrations to great works of art. “Still the Illustrated Man’s pictures glowed like charcoals in the half light, like scattered rubies and emeralds, with Rouault colors and Picasso colors and the long, pressed-out El Grecco bodies” (p. 3). Notice: I quoted material that wasn’t part of a character’s dialogue. Any time you use a sentence from the text, you put it in quotation marks. Hence, we say, “use a quotation from the text.”

QUOTE YOUR MATERIAL PROPERLY If you are going to use a combination of dialogue and narration, you use single quotes for the dialogue: “After a long while I exhaled. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘They’re still there.’”

INTERPRETATION Your explanation of how your evidence supports your claim Based on your reasoning It’s where you elaborate your ideas You might make an interpretive statement to set up your evidence And then you will spend a few sentences explaining the evidence you present

IN SUMMARY Claim: State your argument in a complete, objective sentence Evidence: Present your case with quotations from the text Interpretation: Explain, explain, explain