Academics · Study Skills

A quote is not an answer.
Your reasoning is.

Teachers ask for text evidence because it makes a reader slow down and prove a point. Write the claim, add each quote with its page and what it shows, then write the explanation that connects them. The organizer counts what you have and flags the gaps a teacher would circle.

Add a claimWhat you get
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Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Study skills kit, $29 for 21 items.

Your claims

The worked example uses two public-domain texts: Frederick Douglass’s Narrative (1845), well supported, and Romeo and Juliet, with one quote and a thin explanation. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Academics · Study Skills$5

What you finish with
A record per claim: the question, the text, the claim, each piece of evidence (exact words, location, part of the text, what it shows), the explanation and five checks. Counts pieces of evidence, pieces with a location and words in the explanation; flags one-quote claims, missing locations, short explanations, long quotes and evidence from only one part of the text.
Who it is for
Middle and high school students answering text-based questions and writing literary analysis.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per claim. Prints one claim, every claim in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Study skills kit ($29) and the Academics Suite pass ($149), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Study Skills space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write the question and your claim in one sentence.
  2. Add each quote word for word with its page, chapter or line.
  3. Note what each quote shows.
  4. Write the explanation: name a word or detail and what it reveals.
  5. Fix the flags, then draft the paragraph.

Add a claim

How the parts fit

Claim, evidence, reasoning1ClaimOne sentence that answers thequestion and can be argued2IntroduceWho speaks, and what ishappening at that moment3QuoteOnly the words you willdiscuss, with page or line4ExplainName a word or detail and whatit reveals5ConnectTie it back to the claim, thento the next quote6RangeEvidence from more than onepart of the textClaim, evidence, reasoning1ClaimOne sentence that answers the questionand can be argued2IntroduceWho speaks, and what is happening atthat moment3QuoteOnly the words you will discuss, withpage or line4ExplainName a word or detail and what itreveals5ConnectTie it back to the claim, then to thenext quote6RangeEvidence from more than one part of thetext
The explanation is where the grade is: a quote shows you found something; the reasoning shows you understood it.

Shorter quotes

A quote of a few words, woven into your sentence, usually does more than a long block. Keep the words you will actually discuss, and use an ellipsis to show where you left words out.

Locations

Prose is cited by page or chapter, plays by act, scene and line (2.3.94), poems by line. Page numbers differ between editions, so note which edition you used.

Sources

  1. Douglass, F. (1845). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, chapters 6 and 7. Public domain.
  2. Shakespeare, W. Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 3. Public domain; Folger Shakespeare Library edition for line numbers.
  3. National Governors Association and CCSSO (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Reading Literature standard 1 (cite textual evidence).
  4. Modern Language Association (2021). MLA Handbook (9th ed.), quotations and in-text citations.

The quotations are from public-domain texts; the claims and explanations are made-up student work. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.