Textual evidence — English definition
Defined in 3 courses:
- Specific details, quotes, or events from the text that support a claim about theme, character, or meaning. (English 6)
- The exact words and details from a text that you point to as proof for a claim or an inference. (English 6)
- The specific words, images, and details cited to support a claim — 'strong' when precise and telling, 'thorough' when it covers the passages that complicate the reading too. (English 12: Complex Texts, Independent Inquiry & Public Voice)
Where it is taught
- Theme & Summary — Reading Literature, English 6, Grade 6
- Citing Textual Evidence — Reading Informational Text, English 6, Grade 6
- Analyzing Complex Literature — Close Reading & Literary Analysis, English 12: Complex Texts, Independent Inquiry & Public Voice, Grade 12
In use
A careful reader never just asserts a theme, either; they anchor it in textual evidence: a specific line of dialogue, a decision, a turning point that proves the message is genuinely in the story and not just in your imagination.
Theme & Summary
Whether you're reporting an explicit fact or drawing an inference, you have to back it up with textual evidence — the actual words and details taken straight from the page.
Citing Textual Evidence
Because meaning in these texts lives in the exact words, analysis must be built from strong and thorough textual evidence — not one convenient line but a pattern of details that all lean the same way.
Analyzing Complex Literature
Taught alongside
- theme
- central idea
- topic
- objective summary
- explicit
- inference
- cite
- close reading
- allusion
- ambiguity
- interpretation