Commentary, Line of Reasoning and Development

Commentary is your explanation of how and why a piece of evidence supports your claim. Without it, evidence just sits there; with it, the reader sees the connection. Commentary is what the biggest row of the essay rubric (Evidence and Commentary, 4 of the 6 points) rewards most.

When you use other people's ideas, you bring them into your argument as a conversation, showing where sources agree, disagree or build on each other. You always credit them: quotation marks for exact words, plus a citation such as (Source A) or the author's name.

A line of reasoning is the order of claims and evidence a writer uses to build toward a conclusion. Tracking how each part connects to the thesis helps you answer reading questions about structure and purpose.

In your own essays, arrange your claims in an order that builds logically toward your thesis, and give each body paragraph a clear job. A strong line of reasoning lets your paragraphs add up to one argument instead of a list.

Reasoning breaks down when a writer jumps to a conclusion the evidence doesn't support, generalizes from too few examples, or assumes one thing caused another just because it came first. Learn to spot these weak links and avoid them, rather than memorizing a long list of fallacy names.

Writers develop arguments with methods such as narration, which tells a story or recounts an experience to make a point, and cause-effect, which explains why something happens or what results from it. In your own essays, a short personal story or a clear chain of causes can be strong support.