Reading and Writing

Reading and Writing

Quarter 2 – Module 6: Determining Textual Evidence to Validate Assertions
Made About a Text Read
First Edition, 2020

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Reading and Writing

Quarter 2
Self-Learning Module 6
Determining Textual Evidence to Validate
Assertions Made About a Text Read
Introductory Message

For the Facilitator:

Welcome to the Reading and Writing Self-Learning Module on Determining

Textual Evidence to Validate Assertions Made About a Text Read.

This Self-Learning Module was collaboratively designed, developed, and

reviewed by educators from the Schools Division Office of Pasig City headed by its
Officer-in-Charge Schools Division Superintendent, Ma. Evalou Concepcion A.
Agustin, in partnership with the City Government of Pasig through its mayor,
Honorable Victor Ma. Regis N. Sotto. The writers utilized the standards set by the K
to 12 Curriculum using the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC) in
developing this instructional resource.

This learning material hopes to engage the learners in guided and independent
learning activities at their own pace and time. Further, this also aims to help learners
acquire the needed 21st-century skills especially the 5 Cs, namely: Communication,
Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Character while taking into
consideration their needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the
body of the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies
that will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator, you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this
module. You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to
manage their learning. Moreover, you are expected to encourage and assist the
learners as they do the tasks included in the module.
For the learner:

Welcome to the Reading and Writing Self-Learning Module on Determining

Textual Evidence to Validate Assertions Made About a Text Read.

The hand is one of the most symbolized parts of the human body. It is often
used to depict skill, action, and purpose. Through our hands, we may learn, create,
and accomplish. Hence, the hand in this learning resource signifies that you as a
learner is capable and empowered to successfully achieve the relevant competencies
and skills at your own pace and time. Your academic success lies in your own hands!

This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful
opportunities for guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You
will be enabled to process the contents of the learning material while being an active
learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

Expectations - This points to the set of knowledge and skills

that you will learn after completing the module.

Pretest - This measures your prior knowledge about the lesson

at hand.

Recap - This part of the module provides a review of concepts

and skills that you already know about a previous lesson.

Lesson - This section discusses the topic in the module.

Activities - This is a set of activities that you need to perform.

Wrap-Up - This section summarizes the concepts and

application of the lesson.

Valuing - This part integrates a desirable moral value in the

lesson.

Posttest - This measures how much you have learned from the
entire module.
 EXPECTATIONS

This is your self-instructional learner module in Reading and Writing.

All the activities provided in this lesson will help you learn and understand:
Determining Textual Evidence to Validate Assertions Made About a Text
Read.
After completing this module, you will be able to:
1. Define what textual evidence is.
2. Locate the assertion made from the given texts.
3. Determine the textual evidence present from the given samples that
validates the assertion.

PRETEST

Which of the following textual evidence will support the given assertion? Put
a check mark (✔) before the number of each statement that serves as a textual
evidence and leave it blank if does not.

ASSERTION: The yummy pearls in milk tea are making us fat.

_____ 1. The sheer number of milk tea fans keep growing as milk tea shops
keep popping up with their extensive menus and variations.
_____ 2. Bubble tea simply is not quite as complete without pearls.
Unfortunately, pearls have little to no nutritional value. Simply put,
pearls are empty calories.
_____ 3. With the addition of pearls to a cup of tea that is already loaded
with sugar and artificial sweetener, the calorie count of your drink
easily adds up to over 300 calories – more than a can of coke or
even a bowl of rice.
_____ 4. Tapioca pearls are the lovely goodness that settles at the bottom of
your favorite flavored milk tea.
_____ 5. According to Singapore’s Health Promotion Board (HPB), the quarter
cup of pearls (or more) served in a cup of bubble tea adds up to
more than 100 calories.

RECAP

We have learned in the previous lessons what assertions and

counterclaims are and how to formulate them. Assertions, in writing, is a
stylistic approach or technique that involves a confident and forceful
statement or declaration regarding a belief or fact but often without support
or reason. Its purpose is to express ideas or feelings directly. The slight
difference between a claim from an assertion is that a claim is expressed in a
lighter way or tone compared to assertion which is often conveyed in a more
demanding and stronger manner.

LESSON

In our daily lives, we occasionally come across conflicts or actively

participate in arguments and discussions. Arguments are often perceived as
something destructive or just another “mindless indulgence” for some people.
But for others, arguing is not necessarily destructive or a waste of time. It can
be a valuable exchange of ideas. Arguments are also beneficial when we try to
reach a decision, answer some questions, or determine the truth.
There are four parts of an argument that form the mnemonic
A-C-R-E, which stands for Assertion-Counterclaims-Reasoning-Evidence.
In your previous lessons, you already learned how to come up with
assertions, counterclaims, and reasoning from texts read. As we already
know, assertion is a strong and confident declaration about one’s opinion,
beliefs, and feelings. Initially, authors make assertions in the text they write.
But the real question here is: How do we make an assertion as something
more than just a strong type of claim? And how do we make an assertion valid
or believable? Now those questions are the reasons why determining textual
evidence will be of great importance.

What is a Textual Evidence?

Textual evidence is essentially a proof. They are specific examples or
statements straight from the text that help support an idea or reasoning.
Remember that in everything we claim or assert, we must back it up with
strong and adequate evidence from the text to validate them.

Here are the following steps in analyzing and citing evidence from the
text read:
1. Read the paragraph carefully.
2. Examine each sentence for any stated claims by the author that you
may find. Usually, a topic sentence often identifies the main claim or
assertion in the paragraph.
3. Locate and cite the reasons and supporting textual evidence.
4. Explain how the evidence supports the assertion or claim.

Let us take this passage as an example:

“The oppressive ideal of a busy life will destroy us. It insists that a
good life – the only life worthy of a capable and intelligent person – is one of
continuous activity and application; one must strive relentlessly to fulfill every
ambition; every hour of the day and the evening must be filled with intense
activity. But instead of being blissfully satisfied with our hectic lives we feel
permanently nervous and strained, though we are careful to conceal it as
much as possible from others, and from ourselves. More dramatically, we find
we are on the verge (or beyond the verge) of collapse. We fall ill or we
suddenly snap and do something disastrous: we start finding ourselves in
heated arguments; we get enraged easily with people who don’t intend to
 annoy us; we ignore those who care for our well-being; we take drugs ‘to
unwind’ or to keep up our level of intense activity – and then we find we’re
addicted and increasingly unable to function. Our cult of busyness demands
that we take on more than we can properly cope with; until we have a
breakdown and want to lock ourselves away, smash our phones, lie on the
floor and weep.”
– from the web article, Why We All Need Quiet Days by The School of
Life 2020

The paragraph that we have read above is a part of the feature essay
that talks about mental health-awareness. After reading the whole text, we
can conclude that the writer’s belief is that the ideal of having a constant busy
life is destructive. The author made that very clear as his assertive statement
on the first sentence. In the succeeding parts, the underlined sentences
served as evidence that will support his assertion and why the assertion is
true. Evidence must be based on facts, research, and real experiences.

There are three ways in citing the textual evidence: first is by means of
direct quotations, second is through paraphrasing, and last is to
summarize the author’s words to also support your points.

Direct quotation is a way of repeating the exact words of an author or

speaker taken directly from the text and are placed inside quotation marks.
Example: (Using the same passage above) In the last sentence of the
paragraph, the author said, “Our cult of busyness demands that we take on
more than we can properly cope with; until we have a breakdown and want to
lock ourselves away, smash our phones, lie on the floor and weep.”

Paraphrasing is done by rewriting the author’s ideas in your own

words. You can also change the wording or phrasing but must keep the
meaning.
Tip: Keep the paraphrase more concise than the original passage.
 Example: According to the text given, smoking will harm not only your
overall appearance but worse, also your vital organs.

Summarizing is when we put together the author’s main points into

one brief statement. It serves as a broad overview of a passage read.
Example: The author gives the following reasons to support his claim
that we should not eat at fast-food restaurants such as: (1) the foods are
processed, full of calories, fat, salt, and sugar and (3) it will destroy your
health.

To cite evidence and provide proof to support a claim or an assertion,

we can use the following prompts:

The author wrote/said… From the reading, I know that…

The author stated/mentioned… Based on what I read…
According to the text/Based on the On page ____ it said….
text… In paragraph ____the author stated…
In the ___ sentence, it was written…
The text stated/The text described… For example…/ For instance…
In the text, it said…/Earlier in the The author gives the following
text… reasons to support the claim such
as…
One example from the text is… From this paragraph, I noticed…

ACTIVITIES

Activity 1
Read the following texts carefully. Locate the assertion or claim and draw a
box around it. Underline all the textual evidence that supports it.

1. “Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago was one of the most popular senators
in the Philippines. To many, she was the best president we never had.
 She had an impressive academic credentials when she was still
studying. She was appointed to various government positions. She
combatted syndicates and illegal aliens. As a senator, she made several
notable laws that she authored/co-authored including the Magna Carta
for Women, Cyber Crime Act of 2012, Reproductive Health Act of 2012,
Climate Change Act of 2009 and many more. She wrote more than 30
books, which became famous and touched the hearts even of the
Filipino youth of today. Santiago has served in all three branches of the
Philippine government – judicial, executive, and legislative. She will
forever be remembered as The Iron Lady of Asia.” – OJ Maño

2. “COVID-19 has chillingly robbed the rights of a person in death. Our

hearts turn heavy at every piece of news of a passing friend, relative, or
stranger, whom hospital authorities decide must be buried with the
special protocol. In several places in the country, ugly squabbles have
broken out, where families have clashed with police and hospital staff
over bodies of their loved ones, shouting their refusal of the COVID-19
burial protocol. They snatched the bodies from the morgues and
ambulances, even though the hospitals provide the basic religious rites
with hospital staff and a few family members. The families instead
insisted on proper rites and funerals, ignoring the risk of contamination
when the body is washed or dressed.” – Ati Nurbaiti

Activity 2
Read and analyze the excerpt below. Find textual evidence that supports the
given assertion by using citation prompts and explain how they support the
assertion. Write them on the table provided.

“My sister Delia was the meanest creature I knew! She once pushed me
so hard that I crashed against a flimsy wall and the wall trampled over me.
She almost beat me to death in the past just because I accidentally torn the
leg of her favorite doll. Nothing I did ever pleased her. She destroyed willfully
anything I liked. I did not say anything when she told Berto to kill my monkey
because it snickered at her one morning. She did not like my pigeon house
because it stank. She found my collection of butterflies, dumped them, and
burned them. I wept and Father had to call my sister for an explanation. She
looked at me curiously, but she did not say anything, and Father began to
gently question her. My father kept on reminding me to put up with her whims
to keep her calm and quiet. She had a weak heart, and she must not be
surprised. The worst thing she did was when I found that Biryuk, my dog’s
eye was bleeding. Poor dog had been stabbed by my sister’s stick. I held
myself, my throat swelled, but I felt hate rear and plunge in its cage of ribs.”

ASSERTION CITATION EXPLANATION

1. Delia is a wicked 1. 1.
sister. 2. 2.
2. The author has no 1. 1.
power over his sister. 2. 2.
3. Their father is 1. 1.
overprotective of Delia. 2. 2.

WRAP-UP

Read each statement below carefully and fill in the blank with the correct
answer.

(1) _____________ is a strong and confident declaration about one’s opinion,

beliefs, and feelings. We (2) _____________ assertions by finding and
determining textual evidence. Textual evidence are details and examples
that come straight from the text. (3) _____________ is a way of repeating the
exact words of an author or speaker taken directly from the text and are
placed inside (4) _____________. Summarizing is when we put together the
author’s (5) _____________ into one brief statement.
 VALUING

How significant are evidences in our daily lives? Express your answer
through an illustration.

POSTTEST

Direction: Encircle the citing prompts used in the following textual evidence.

1. “Harlem” by Langston Hughes gives me the feeling, or mood, of anger

and depression. I know this because from the poem, the author uses
these words such as “fester like a sore,” which gives me a feeling of pain.
Furthermore, he described deferred dreams as if they “stink like rotten
meat” is an unpleasant image.
2. Recently, scholars have identified a growing number of males who are
increasingly concerned about their appearance. Based on what I read,
the author and scholar Lynne Luciano traced the recent rise in male
spending on beauty, fashion, and fitness.
3. On the first page of the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it said
that Mr. Willy Wonka was the greatest inventor and maker of chocolates
that there has ever been. And his chocolate factory was the largest and
most popular in the whole world.
4. The text described that students frequently overuse direct quotations
in taking notes, as a result, failing to keep quote material down to a
desirable level.
5. Dogs are better than cats. From the reading, it says that dog owners
laugh more than cat owners, which means they experience higher levels
of positive emotion than cat owners.
 KEY TO CORRECTION

succeeding sentences
Textual Evidence: All
it says that… of a person in death.
5. From the reading, chillingly robbed the rights
4. The text described 2. Assertion: COVID-19 has
of…it said that… and the last line.
3. On the first page sentences except the 1st 5.✔
read… Textual Evidence: All 4.
2. Based on what I had. 3.✔
because… may vary best president we never 2.✔
1. I know this Answers 1. Assertion: She was the 1.
Posttest Activity 2 Activity 1 Pretest

References
How to Teach Claims, Counterclaims and Rebuttals in Writing!
https://www.teachingupperelementary.com/2019/07/how-to-teach-claims-
counterclaims-and-rebuttals-in-writing/

Assertion - Examples and Definition of Assertion

https://literarydevices.net/assertion/

The Best Philippine Short Stories – The Centipede by Rony V. Diaz

https://www.sushidog.com/bpss/stories/centipede.htmhttps:/

Citing Text Evidence in 6 Steps

https://www.upperelementarysnapshots.com/2015/04/citing-text-evidence-in-6-
steps.html/

Assertions, Claims, and their Evidence in a Text

https://www.elcomblus.com/assertions-claims-and-their-evidence-in-a-text/

Miriam Defensor Santiago: The Best President We Never Had -

https://www.bulakenyo.ph/miriam-defensor-santiago-the-iron-lady-of-asia/

Luxury of a Funeral —https://www.storycenter.org/covid-stories-1//luxury-of-a-

funeral/

Here's Why the Pearls in Bubble Tea Are Making You Fat
https://www.shape.com.sg/weight-loss/heres-why-the-pearls-in-bubble-tea-are-
making-you-fat