CLAIM, EVIDENCE,
INTERPRETATION
CEI
WHAT IS IT?
• A structure for writing analytical or
argumentative paragraphs
• Way to make a strong case for your
insights into a reading or topic
• It’s not about counting sentences
• It is about developing your ideas
• It is not a summary
PART ONE: CLAIM
• First sentence
• Expresses your main argument or
idea
• Similar to topic sentence or thesis
statement
• Not what to read but how to read
TELL ME MORE!
• OK! The claim conveys your
belief/argument about a “big idea”
in the work you are reading
• Claims are NOT facts, but conclusions
you draw from the facts
• It is possible for someone to have a
different opinion (that’s why you
need to support your claim)!
EXAMPLES OF CLAIMS
• Henry Aaron’s essay, “I Had A
Hammer,” illustrates a champion that is
as humble as he is talented.
• In “The Prologue,” the illustrated man
symbolizes human creativity and
imagination.
• Ray Bradbury uses strong imagery to
portray a horrifying picture of reality in
“The Veldt.”
YOUR EXAMPLES
• “Marionettes, Inc.” illustrates that clones in the
future could be dangerous.
• In “Marionettes, Inc.,” Ray Bradbury incorporates
the common idea of the future to explain what
could happen if clones were possible.
• “Marionettes, Inc.” showcases one of the
possibilities of artificial intelligence: robots turning
on humans.
EVIDENCE
• The PROOF for your point
• In Literary Analysis, it consists of:
• Word-for-word quotations from the text
(primary source)
• Paraphrasing of the text (don’t try this yet)
• Word-for-word quotations from reliable
secondary sources, like a published book
review (don’t try this yet, either)
QUOTE YOUR MATERIAL PROPERLY
• Sometimes it seems that the illustrations have a
dream-like quality. For example, the illustrated man
says, “I could keep a carnival day job. But at
night—the pictures move. The pictures change”
(p.3).
• Notice: comma before the quotation
• Notice: page citation after quotation and in
parentheses
• Notice: end-punctuation after the page citation
QUOTE YOUR MATERIAL PROPERLY
• The narrator compares the illustrations to great
works of art. “Still the Illustrated Man’s pictures
glowed like charcoals in the half light, like scattered
rubies and emeralds, with Rouault colors and
Picasso colors and the long, pressed-out El Grecco
bodies” (p. 3).
• Notice: I quoted material that wasn’t part of a
character’s dialogue. Any time you use a sentence
from the text, you put it in quotation marks. Hence,
we say, “use a quotation from the text.”
QUOTE YOUR MATERIAL PROPERLY
• If you are going to use a combination of
dialogue and narration, you use single
quotes for the dialogue:
• “After a long while I exhaled. ‘Yes,’ I said.
‘They’re still there.’”
INTERPRETATION
• Your explanation of how your evidence supports
your claim
• Based on your reasoning
• It’s where you elaborate your ideas
• You might make an interpretive statement to set up
your evidence
• And then you will spend a few sentences explaining
the evidence you present
IN SUMMARY
• Claim: State your argument in a
complete, objective sentence
• Evidence: Present your case with
quotations from the text
• Interpretation: Explain, explain,
explain