You've seen examples of how textual evidence can be used to support a comparative claim. Now try supporting a claim or your own. Read or reread two stories to compare, write your thesis or claim statement, cite your evidence, and explain how it all fits together.
Use the tabs below to review how to complete each of these steps. Then use the Supporting a Comparative Claim worksheet to share your claim and the evidence that supports it. When you have completed the worksheet, submit it to your teacher. Click the Activity button to begin the worksheet. Click the Rubric button to see how your work will be graded.
Choose a Claim
State Your Claim
Provide Evidence
Explain Yourself
Reread and look for similarities and differences between the two short stories, "The Lady or the Tiger?" and "A Lady's Tale." Look back at the comparative claims that you wrote for an earlier lesson.
| Stories to Compare |
|
| The Lady or the Tiger? | |
| A Lady's Tale. | |
Once you've chosen a topic, write a thesis statement that you believe you can support with textual evidence. Remember that your thesis statement should be a comparative claim that other readers or viewers are not likely to accept without some proof. Review these examples of strong comparative claims.
While "The Gifts of the Little People" emphasizes the consequences of characters' choices, "The Two Brothers" demonstrates how character traits drive decisions.
Both stories condemn greed, but one of them goes much farther in emphasizing the value of generosity.
There are several ways you can cite evidence for your claim. You can copy a direct quote from one of the texts, you can paraphrase a passage, or you can summarize a section or the entire text. Before you look for evidence for your claim, review each of these methods using the chart below.
| Method | Example | How to Do It |
| direct quote | Kipling's Rikki-tikki-tavi is a brave and resourceful mongoose: "It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity." | Use the author's exact words as evidence. |
| paraphrase | Kipling describes mongooses as naturally curious--so much so that it's very difficult to frighten one. |
Rewrite a specific passage in your own words. |
| summary | According to Kipling, mongooses are very curious and daring animals. |
State the main idea of the passage or text. |
Just because you cite evidence that you believe supports your claim, that doesn't mean that your essay's readers will see the connection. To support a comparative claim, you need explain why or how each piece or evidence works to prove your case. Review these examples of explanations.
| Evidence | Explanation |
| In "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," the mother character is terrified of the idea that a snake might injure her child. In fact, she is willing to allow a wild mongoose in her child's room, rather than consider the possibility that a snake might get in. The father character explains, “Teddy’s safer with that little beast than if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came into the nursery now…” And Kipling adds "But Teddy’s mother wouldn’t think of anything so awful." | By describing the mother's fear of snakes and her anxiety for her child's safety, the author has created a sense of anxiety, and has foreshadowed the possibility that a snake might well endanger the child. |
| In "Snakes Alive!" the author describes his experience working with snakes as a risky venture: "I was also taught the proper way of holding and handling snakes. On the third day, I was bitten by a wolf snake." | Although the author of "Snakes Alive!" eventually becomes comfortable with snakes, this example shows how the image of the snake can be used to create a sense of anxiety in the reader. In this case, the description of a snake bite is intriguing, and makes readers want to know more about this terrible incident. |
