Analyzing Themes and Details: Unpacking the Evidence
Overview:
You will learn:
- How to cite text evidence, which includes connecting insights gained to understanding of text as a whole
- How to find key ideas in a text, which involves seeing how ideas interact and build on one another
- How to summarize, which includes making relationships between key details clear
Looking at Informational Texts
Informational texts combine claims with evidence to produce an analysis. Texts, both written and spoken, often contain a lot of information that is critical to understanding its overall message, as well as crucial details that serve as evidence.
To understand the content of an informational text, it is necessary to look closely at the parts to understand the whole.
These details serve to support and “prove” the argument of the text.
How to Unpack an Informational Text
There are several steps to unpacking, or reading and understanding an informational text.
- Survey & Summarize
- Read for argument and evidence
- Review
Surveying an Argument
Surveying means getting an overall sense for the entire text, as well as discovering the main argument.
To do this, you should:
- Read the introduction
- Read the conclusion
- Skim the body, paying special attention to topic sentences
These steps should help you put together an understanding of the text’s main arguments and claims.
Evidence
Next, read the text for its content to understand how the evidence supports the claims.
Use these steps:
- Return to the body and read thoroughly
- Look for claims
- Look for reasons
- Look for supporting evidence
Summarizing
Summarizing is succinctly writing the main points of the text; this helps you keep the central idea in mind as you read.
Once you have examined the text, summarize the main argument and sub points. Your summary should be about big picture concepts, not specific details.
Write your summary. Make sure you have a citation for the text so you can use the information and argument in your future writing.
Review
After you have summarized the text, review how well it explains or gives information. Consider the informational text as a whole:
- Does it make sense?
- Does the evidence support the claims made?
Then think about this text in relationship to other texts:
- How does it agree or disagree with other historical sources?
- In what ways is the argument and evidence useful to you?
Unpacking Informational Text Example
You will look at Digital History, an online textbook, to discover the economic goals of the “The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” (August 28, 1963).
By doing this, you will practice determining the central ideas, citing the key evidence, and summarizing the text as a whole.
The title indicates that there were economic motivations for the march; organizers and protesters wanted to do something about the unequal distribution of resources and wealth in the United States as a result of segregation and discrimination.
Go to the Digital History online textbook and read the section “The March on Washington”. Follow the steps for unpacking the text!
Survey Argument
Digital History’s “The March on Washington” has only two paragraphs.
The last sentence of the first paragraph expresses the main idea: the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was created to pressure the government to make changes.
The second paragraph’s topic sentence explains when the March happened and how many people participated in the event.
The text does not include a conclusion.
List Evidence
Evidence should match the claims made in an argument. In this example, each paragraph contains supporting evidence for each sub-claim.
Paragraph 1: The March on Washington was created to pressure the government to make a change
a) Who organized the March and why – Randolph and Rustin were alarmed by the recurring violence
b) The march was about “civil rights and jobs” – these are economic issues
Paragraph 2: Description of the March on Washington
a) Where (Washington, DC), when (August 28, 1963)
b) Some 200,000 people marched carrying signs with demands for equal education, housing, and jobs
c) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” summary
Here is a summary of the overall text:
Digital History’s “The March on Washington” explains that the initial reason for the March was in response to violent protests and economic problems. Many people attended the March on Washington and a number of Civil Rights leaders spoke at the event. People held up signs about economic issues. The text argues that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most important and impressive speaker of the day. His “I Have a Dream Speech” emphasized the importance of freedom, not jobs.
Review of Text
This text explains some information about the economic reasons behind the March on Washington, but not much.
To learn more about the economic factors behind the Civil Rights Movement, you will need to examine other informational texts to gain a better understanding.
Secondary vs. Primary Sources
The textbook excerpt about the March on Washington is a secondary source. Examining other secondary sources can help you better understand a text as well as an event and its significance.
You can also read primary sources as informational texts.
Examining a News Article as an Informational Text
Gavin Wright’s article “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement” appeared in the online news and opinion source Bloomberg View on February 13, 2013.
This article consists of 15 paragraphs and makes Wright’s point several times throughout. Read the article’s introduction, conclusion, and topic sentences in the body paragraphs to survey the argument.
Survey Argument
In the article “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement”, the main points are presented in three sections of the article.
The beginning and the end of the article state the central idea: The Civil Rights Movement had an economic impact.
Introduction (paragraphs 1-4 of the article):
- “the demand for economic justice was one of the most successful and enduring features of that [Civil Rights] movement.”
Conclusion (the last paragraph):
- “remember the historic lesson that interracial cooperation has benefits for all concerned.”
In the article “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement”, the body paragraphs explain the claim further, and build a relationship between the sub-claims to support the main argument.
Paragraph 5 –“The Change”:
- “Federal legislation outlawing discrimination in employment and voting had a dramatic effect on this situation [employment discrimination], starting in 1964.”
Paragraph 10 – “Economic Watershed” (I):
- “…these complex interconnections [of schooling and job opportunities] only confirm that the civil-rights revolution was an economic watershed.”
Paragraph 13 – “Economic Watershed” (II):
- “…economic gains for black Southerners didn’t come at the expense of white Southerners.”
List Evidence
The next step is to look at the evidence supporting the argument.
Below you will find a list of evidence from the the article’s section “The Change” (paragraphs 5-9):
- the percentage of African American workers at South Carolina textile factories increased from 5% to 33% between 1963 and 1970
- increased African American incomes from 1965 to 1975
- increased standard of living
- increased number of children in college
- U.S. Supreme Court case Griggs (1971) struck down racially-biased testing for employment
- increased number of African Americans in blue collar and white collar jobs in Southern states after 1964
- increased number of African American elected officials and political representation
- greater racial equity in public service, public employment, and government contracts
This can be done for each section of the text.
Claims Supported by Evidence
As you looked at “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement”, you saw that the claims were supported by evidence.
Although the evidence is described generally, the author also includes specific information.
With additional research you can find more evidence to support these claims.
Citing Evidence
You should cite all sources from other authors that you use in your writing. For example, if you were to cite the evidence from “The Stunning Economic Impact of the
Civil Rights Movement”in your own writing, you should include:
- the piece of evidence
- the name of the author
- title of the source
- date of the source
For example:
African Americans saw a jump in employment rates after the Civil Rights Act of 1964; from 1963 to 1970, the numbers jumped from 5% to 33% (source:Gavin Wright, “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement,” 2013).
Various citation standards exist for more formal writing assignments. Ask your teacher about which system to use.
Summarize
Next, to help you remember the text’s main ideas, summarize “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement”.
A sample summary could look like this:
Gavin Wright’s “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement” (2013) argues that the Civil Rights Movement post-1964 improved the economic status of African Americans in the United States. The most evident changes occurred in employment, labor legislation and enforcement, education, and political participation. Wright also claims that advances for African Americans did not come at the expense of whites. He urges readers to, “remember the historic lesson that interracial cooperation has benefits for all concerned.”
Review
Finally, think about the text and how it connects to the other texts you have studied, as well as the writing task before you.
In this case, the informational text (Wright’s article) is credible and useful. It makes the case that the demands of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom were met. It also provides one answer to the question: What was the economic impact of the Civil Rights Movement?
Conclusion
You learned:
- How to discover the main ideas and how the author builds on them
- How to discover the evidence used and how to cite it
- How to summarize the text by explaining the relationships between key details
You did this by looking at two texts, the first looks at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the second explains the economic impact of Civil Rights Movement.