Introduction
Command of Evidence questions make up part of the Information and Ideas domain, which accounts for roughly 26% of Reading and Writing operational questions. Within that domain, this subtopic — Supporting a Claim with Textual Evidence — asks you to act like a researcher: you are given a specific claim (usually written by a student, scientist, or analyst) and four candidate facts, details, or examples drawn from a passage. Your job is to identify which one best supports that claim.
These questions appear in research-style passages — think science summaries, historical overviews, or social-studies excerpts — and are distinct from the literary-passage evidence questions covered in the sibling note Textual Evidence in Literary Passages.
Core Concept
The question stem typically looks like this:
"Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher's claim?" "Which detail from the passage best supports the underlined claim?"
Two things are always in play:
- The claim — a precise, often multi-part statement. Pull it apart: identify every condition, every noun, every qualifier.
- The evidence — a fact, detail, or example. It must connect to every part of the claim, not just part of it.
The golden rule: An answer that addresses only half the claim is wrong — even if it sounds impressive or is factually true. Support means the evidence makes the claim more plausible or logical. An answer is a distractor if it:
- Addresses a related but different claim
- Is too broad to support the specific claim
- Contradicts or is silent on a key part of the claim
- Is about the right topic but the wrong direction (e.g., decline vs. increase)
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