Sixth Grade · Writing · week 3

Warrants: Connecting the Dots

Write a warrant that explains how a piece of evidence actually supports the claim, rather than leaving the connection unstated.

Evidence does not explain itself. A warrant is the sentence (or two) where you tell the reader exactly why this evidence supports your claim. Without a warrant, a reader has to guess your reasoning -- and readers should never have to guess.

A warrant usually sounds like "This shows that..." or "Because of this, ..." followed by the connection back to your claim. Skilled writers do not just drop a fact and move on; they explain what the fact proves.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Read a claim-plus-evidence pair aloud and ask, "so what -- why does that matter to your claim?" -- their answer IS the warrant.
  • Catch "evidence dumps" where a fact appears with no explanation, and ask for the missing connecting sentence.
  • Model the sentence starters "This shows that...", "Because of this...", "As a result..." as reliable warrant openers.
  • Warrants are where the writer's own thinking shows -- praise original reasoning, not just correct facts.
Talk about it:
  • What is a warrant, and why does evidence need one?
  • What happens to an argument when a writer skips the warrant?
  • Which of your warrants this week are you proudest of, and why?

Mastery looks like: They can write a warrant sentence that clearly explains why a specific piece of evidence supports the claim.

Common stumbles: Restating the evidence in different words instead of explaining why it matters; leaving the connection to the claim implied.

Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
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