Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning
Write analytical paragraphs with clear claims, relevant evidence, and reasoning that explains how the evidence supports the claim.
A lesson of English 9, in Analytical Writing, about 10 minutes.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to write a clear literary claim, select and introduce appropriate evidence, and write analysis that explains the connection between evidence and claim.
The CER Framework
Literary analysis is fundamentally an argument. Every analytical paragraph makes a claim, supports it with evidence from the text, and explains the reasoning that connects the two.
Claim → Evidence → Reasoning
This structure applies at every level: within a sentence, within a paragraph, within an essay.
Claims
A claim is a debatable, specific assertion about the text.
❌ "Lord of the Flies is a book about evil."
(Too vague; everyone would agree; no direction)
✓ "In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the boys' progressive abandonment of rescue signals to argue that civilization's hold on human behavior is far weaker than social institutions suggest."
A strong claim:
- Takes a specific position
- Is arguable (reasonable readers might disagree)
- Suggests the direction of the analysis
- Points toward evidence
Evidence
Evidence comes directly from the text — quotation, specific event, pattern, or detail.
Quality evidence:
- Specific and pinpointed (a line, a scene, a detail)
- From a significant moment (turning point, climax, ending)
- Surprising — not just the most obvious passage
Introducing evidence:
Weak: "In the book it says..." or "The author writes..."
Better: "When Simon enters the clearing, Golding describes the forest as 'full of clashing light and immovable heat'..."
Best: Integrate the quotation into your own sentence:
"Golding's image of the forest 'full of clashing light and immovable heat' positions Simon's death as a kind of sacred space — beautiful and violent simultaneously."
Reasoning
Reasoning is the analysis that explains WHY the evidence supports the claim.
It answers:
- What does this passage reveal?
- How does it connect to the claim?
- Why does this detail matter?
The rule: reasoning should be longer than the quotation.
Weak reasoning: "This shows that the boys are bad."
Strong reasoning: "Golding's choice to describe the 'beast' in language more appropriate to religious ecstasy than fear — 'there was nothing they could do' — positions the boys' violence as not merely anarchic but ritualistic, suggesting that the impulse toward cruelty is not an aberration but a deeply human one that civilization only barely contains."