NRA - Theme & Finding Text Evidence Lesson

For this novel, you will be working on a presentation that discusses the theme of the novel. A novel can have one theme or several. Read through the following information about theme and finding evidence.

Evidence is meant to provide external validation of both claims and reasons that readers will accept. Evidence cannot be what you "thought up," but instead must be information that you found "out there" in the world—either because you observed and collected it yourself or because you found a source that reports evidence that someone else observed and collected. Readers in different fields have different standards of what counts as evidence, from numerical data in the sciences to words and images in the humanities. These data, facts, texts, and interviews don't inherently prove a claim: they only become evidence when you explain how they support your claim and reasons. All readers expect you to support your argument with evidence based on facts.

There are FIVE common types of evidence. 

Quotations and Paraphrase: This can come from the original source (novel), journals, websites, online books, etc.
Photographs and Diagrams: These would come from outside sources, but may or may not be relevant for this paper, depending on the theme chosen.
Historical Facts: This type of evidence could be helpful, especially when thinking about the time period of the novel.
Direct Observations: This is not really applicable in this assignment, as it would come from your direct observations of a person, group, etc.
Numerical Data: This is more applicable to science papers, but may be useful if looking at historical data.

Of course, you must remember to cite your sources: failure to do so is plagiarism.

Are You a Text Talker?

How do you bring in the evidence to the text after you have identified it? Examine the list of lead in's below for some ideas as to how you might incorporate the evidence into your essay.

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