Objectives
By the end of this session
- Read science passages without needing prior content knowledge.
- Locate the claim, the evidence, and the qualification quickly in technical text.
- Apply all four domain strategies to science-genre passages.
- Handle graph-plus-passage questions: use the data to support a stated claim.
Anatomy
Every science passage has three parts
Claim
What the researchers think is true — the point the passage is built to make.
"X may regulate Y."
Evidence
The observation, experiment, or data offered to support the claim.
"In trials, Y rose when X was present."
Qualification
The limit — what the evidence does not prove. Often the key to hard questions.
"…though the sample was small."
Why this mattersMost wrong answers in science passages overstate the claim or ignore the qualification. If you've tagged all three parts, an "Extreme" or "Too Broad" trap is easy to drop.
Watch for hedging
Scientists rarely say "proves"
Technical writing hedges on purpose. These words signal a qualified claim — and the correct answer usually hedges with it. An answer that says "proves" or "always" when the passage said "suggests" is almost always wrong.
maymightsuggestsappears tois consistent withtends tocould indicateunder these conditionsin this samplepreliminary
Template
Extract before you answer
Claim: _______________________
Evidence: _______________________
Qualification / limit: _____________
If a graph: what does each axis measure? ____
Trend in the data: ________________
Evidence: _______________________
Qualification / limit: _____________
If a graph: what does each axis measure? ____
Trend in the data: ________________
Worked example
Data supports a specific claim
Command of Evidence · Data · Ecology
A team measured how a pond's algae density changed with added nitrate. They reported that algae rose steadily as nitrate increased — up to a point, after which higher nitrate brought no further growth.
Figure (simplified):
Which choice best uses the data to support the team's statement?
- Algae density fell as nitrate rose past 6 mg/L.
- Algae rose sharply from 2 to 6 mg/L, then leveled off near 23 ×10³ cells/mL.
- Nitrate has no effect on algae density.
- Algae density doubled with every 2 mg/L of nitrate.
WhyThe statement is "rose steadily, then no further growth." B matches both halves and the numbers. A reverses the trend; C ignores it; D overstates a pattern the numbers don't show (it isn't a steady doubling).