1. Evidence
enCompass Academy

2. Evidence Quoted text from a passage which supports your claim
Factual information that helps the reader form an opinion or reach a conclusion about something
If your evidence comes from an image you will not need quotations around your written explanation of the image and what the image symbolizes or represents

3. Example 1
Claim: Abraham Lincoln was racist for the majority of his life.
Evidence: In a speech Abraham Lincoln delivered in 1858 he states, “I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
Does this evidence support my claim?

4. Example 2
Claim: Thomas Jefferson did not truly support the ideal of liberty that he wrote about in the Declaration of Independence.
Evidence: In his book Jefferson at Monticello James A. Bear writes that Thomas Jefferson called slavery a “moral depravity”.
Does this evidence support my claim?

5. Example 3
Claim: In the early years of the United States Congress intended to treat the Native Americans fairly.
Evidence: In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 Congress writes, “The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent.”
Does this evidence support my claim?

6. Sentence Builder Writing Template

7. Example Sentences
In chapter 7 of Ms. Gaither’s Tips for Success, Gaither points out that, “students need to believe in their ability to achieve in order for their ultimate success.”
In line of the passage, Ms. Gaither explains a key characteristic of students who are successful in goal setting.

8. Practice Practice as a class with the following quotes
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
“The very men who make the Prohibition laws are violating it… How can you have the heart to prosecute a bootlegger, send a man to jail for six months or a year for selling a pint or a quart of whiskey, when you know for a fact that the men who make the laws…are themselves patronizing bootleggers?”
Mabel Walker Willebrandt, The Inside of Prohibition