1. Claim, Evidence, Commentary Next Exit
The Road to Answering
Open Response Questions

2. What is claim, evidence, commentary?
Claim, evidence, commentary (CEC) is a formal and analytical writing style.
CEC helps you prove your thoughts using evidence.
It can be used for answering open response questions, discussion questions, or writing essays.
You can use it in any class.

3. Claim What you are claiming is true Your opinion about the subject
Your answer to the question
Often the topic sentence of a paragraph
Very much like a hypothesis

4. Evidence The evidence or the facts you use to support your claim
Examples to support your claim
Quotes from the text to support the claim
References to the text supporting your claim
Statistics supporting the claim
Content specific vocabulary that supports the claim

5. Commentary The explanation of how the data supports your claim
Explains how the example, statistic, quote or reference supports the claim
Explains the significance of the evidence

6. Easy Example Claim: MCHS has an excellent after-school program.
Evidence: We offer archery, art, and cooking classes along with tutoring in all core subject areas.
Commentary: Archery helps students develop strength, focus, and confidence. Art allows students to tap into their creativity, and cooking teaches students to be self-sufficient. Tutoring classes reinforce students’ academic skills.

7. Color-coding your answers
Claim is highlighted in pink.
Evidence is highlighted in green.
Commentary is highlighted in yellow.

8. Example
MCHS has an excellent after-school program. We offer archery, art, and cooking classes along with tutoring in all core subject areas. Archery helps students develop strength, focus, and confidence. Art allows students to tap into their creativity, and cooking teaches students to be self-sufficient. Tutoring classes reinforce students’ academic skills.

9. English I Example
Mood is the overall feeling of the text, and authors use imagery to help create mood. Imagery is language that appeals to the senses and paints a picture in the mind of the reader. Read the passage on pp in The Outsiders.
Identify the mood of the passage.
Explain how S.E. Hinton uses imagery to create this mood.

10. Part A of the question is your claim because it is what you are claiming to be true.
a. In this passage from The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton uses imagery to create a mood of danger and desperation.

11. Part B of your response will contain both data and claim
Part B of your response will contain both data and claim. You should make specific references to the text to support your claim, and this will be evidence. As you explain how those references (evidence) support your claim (how they create mood), you will be writing commentary.
b. In this scene, Pony and Johnny save some kids from the burning church. Images such as “the roar and crackling was getting louder”, “drowning in smoke”, and “timber crashing and flames roaring” work to establish a feeling of intense risk. The imagery affects the reader in this way because it is connected to life or death situations. “The roar and crackling was getting louder” is a sound image that emphasizes the sense of danger and also helps build suspense. The reader realizes the fire is growing more out of control. “Timber crashing and flames roaring” is another sound image that intensifies the mood of danger in the scene because we know the church is close to collapsing. “Drowning in smoke” emphasizes the desperate nature of the situation and underscores the fact that the smoke is deadly.

12. b. In this scene, Pony and Johnny save some kids from the burning church. Images such as “the roar and crackling was getting louder”, “drowning in smoke”, and “timber crashing and flames roaring” work to establish a feeling of intense risk. The imagery affects the reader in this way because it is connected to life or death situations. “The roar and crackling was getting louder” is a sound image that emphasizes the sense of danger and also helps build suspense. The reader realizes the fire is growing more out of control. “Timber crashing and flames roaring” is another sound image that intensifies the mood of danger in the scene because we know the church is close to collapsing. “Drowning in smoke” emphasizes the desperate nature of the situation and underscores the fact that the smoke is deadly.