Trusting Informational Text -3 A's

1. Language Arts Cornell Notes:
Essential Question: (EQ)
How Do I Know If I Can Trust the
Information in a Text?
CAN YOU DECIDE WHAT IS
IMPORTANT?

2. Information you
find in print or on
the Web is not
always
trustworthy.
You have to critique
information:
You must figure out
if info is: accurate,
well-supported, and
unbiased.

3. Claims and assertions are facts or
opinions that present a position or idea.
It’s easy to accept a
claim or assertion
without thinking.
What are Claims and
Assertions?
BUT! This is not a
good idea. Not all
are true!

4. What must a writer do when making claims or
assertions?
Any claim or assertion a writer makes
must be supported with evidence.
Below are examples:
I won three medals at
the Olympics!
All seventh-graders love
math!
[End of Section]
The best skateboards are
made by the Skatezeez
Company!

5. *Sometimes a writer makes a broad
assertion based on very little evidence.
NOT COOL
*sometimes a writer’s
“evidence” is just another
claim or assertion.
EX:All seventh-graders love math
because Joe and Cara beat all the
eighth-graders in the math contest!
All seventh graders love math
because they are always studying.

6. How Can I Assess
Evidence Provided in
an Informational
Text? Use the
“Triple A’s!”

7. What are the “Triple A’s of
Evidence?”
You should expect a writer to support
claims and assertions with the “Triple A’s”
of evidence.
Is the writer’s evidence…(List all three!)
Adequate? Appropriate?Accurate?

8. What is this
advertisement trying
to show about “Fox”
News?

9. Adequate Evidence: A writer must give enough
evidence to support any claims.
What does adequate evidence
mean?
If a claim is barely
supported, or not
supported at all, the
evidence is inadequate.
*I don’t think this girl has great
evidence! Hehe!
A controversial claim needs more evidence—facts,
statistics, and quotations—to support it.
“Here, Mom.
Talk to Janie.
She says it’s
okay to have
a party while
her parents
are out of
town.”

10. Look for
facts. Plenty of
factual support
often means
the
information is
adequate.
We are a nation of couch potatoes,
and our inactivity is showing up in
increased rates of diseases like Type
2 diabetes.
Even more worrying is the problem
that more and more young children
are getting this disease, which used
to be considered an adult disease.
According to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control, the number of
overweight children has increased
nearly 300 percent in the last 25
years, and too much extra weight can
help cause diabetes.
Facts
What Facts Make this Passage more
Convincing? (List 3 on your page.)

11. What does it mean to have accurate evidence?
Accurate Evidence To determine if
evidence is accurate, or free from
mistakes, ask these questions:
1-Is the writer
an expert in this
field?
3-Are the sourcescited factual andreliable?
2-Can the info be
found in other
sources?

12. If a writer uses words like all, each,
or every, it is possible that you’re
looking at inaccurate evidence.
What makes evidence inaccurate?
“Most bikers
don’t bother
with helmets.
Everybody
knows that
wearing a
helmet makes
you look silly.”

13. Some people say junk food—too much
sugar—is the problem. Others say our
inactivity is to blame. In an article in the
Williamson Sun, Jeff Rigs points out that
many young people stop playing sports
by the time they turn 13. Several people
he interviewed blame elitism in sports,
at all levels. If you don’t make the team
in high school or junior high school, you
just stop playing. Most of the money for
sports is spent on very few players, the
“best” players.
**Look for
good
sources in
support of
accurate
information.
Major
newspaper
How do I know if sources are accurate?

14. Appropriate Evidence When evidence is
appropriate, it applies directly to the subject.
Look for Appropriate Evidence!
“Me? I can’t
be bothered
to vote. All
politicians are
crooks
anyway.”
Evidence—even opinions
—should be based on
fact. Evidence should
not rely on emotional
appeal alone. Biased or
slanted evidence is
inappropriate.

15. Are any
opinions
backed up by
facts?
Unsupported
opinions are
examples of
inappropriate
evidence.
What can we do about this situation? We
can spend more money for physical
education, for one thing. In my opinion,
we can also stop spending so much
money on just a few sports that only a
few people get to participate in—
football, for example. We can spend
more effort on sports that people can do
their whole lives, like bicycling and
swimming.
The writer treats this like a fact. Does
the writer provide any evidence?
How Do I Know If I Can Trust the
Information in a Text?
The “Triple A’s” of Evidence

16. What could be a problem with any evidence the student
uses from this source?
Quick Check
[End of Section]
I got this information about galaxies from an old
science magazine my dad had. I think the
magazine was published in the 1950s.
How Do I Know If I Can Trust the
Information in a Text?
The “Triple A’s” of Evidence