During Quill Reading for Evidence activities, students use evidence from a passage to complete three writing prompts. For each response that they submit, students will receive targeted feedback that guides them to revise their responses using strong evidence, accurate mechanics, and correct spelling. Below, we have outlined some responses that the Quill will not accept.

While a piece of evidence may work for multiple writing prompts in a Quill Reading for Evidence activity, our passages are designed so that the strongest evidence for each writing prompt is always different. For example, if a student uses the same evidence for the but writing prompt and the so writing prompt, but the evidence is strongest for the but writing prompt, Quill will guide the student to choose a different piece of evidence for the so writing prompt.

Quill Reading for Evidence discourages plagiarism by guiding students to paraphrase their response when they have used ten or more consecutive words from the passage in their response. We selected ten or more consecutive words as the threshold because some of the passages include specific or technical language that students may not be able to paraphrase, so in some instances, using less than ten consecutive words may be unavoidable. However, responses that use ten or more consecutive words can typically be partially or entirely paraphrased in the student's own words.

For example, the response below uses twenty words in a row that come directly from the passage.

Quill Reading for Evidence may also guide students to paraphrase if a student uses phrases that are taken directly from the passage when those phrases can be easily paraphrased.

For example, the response below uses just nine words in a row that come directly from the passage, but the nine words can be easily paraphrased into the student's own words.

Quill Reading for Evidence requires that students provide evidence-based responses. This requirement allows Quill to narrow down the variety of potential responses, making the feedback more effective. Please see the examples below that show the feedback that students receive when they have submitted opinionated responses. You can expect that your students will see similar feedback if they submit opinionated responses.

Quill Reading for Evidence also discourages using a first-person point of view. Please see the examples below that show the feedback that students receive when they have submitted responses using a first-person point of view. You can expect that your students will see similar feedback if they submit responses using a first-person point of view.

Quill Reading for Evidence encourages students to use the joining word, because, to show a relationship of cause using evidence from the text. Students who submit a "because of" response will be directed to instead start their response with a noun from the passage. In the example below, the "because of" response focuses on the cause of desertification rather than the reason farmers want to stop it. The feedback encourages them to find a reason why farmers want to stop desertification from the passage.

Quill Reading for Evidence encourages students to use the joining word, so, to show a consequence. Students who submit a "so that" response will receive feedback that encourages them to shift their focus and provide a consequence. In the example below, the "so that" response focuses on what athletes would do if they were paid more. The feedback encourages them to find a consequence of athletes believing that they should get paid more from the passage.

Students cannot include any profanity in their responses. If they do, they will receive the feedback below.

Quill Reading for Evidence discourages colloquial spellings of words, like "gotta," "shoulda," "wanna," etc. by providing the feedback below.

Please feel free to send a message to the Quill team using the green message bubble on the bottom right corner of the screen or email us at support@quill.org.