What is "text-dependent questioning"?

What is "text-dependent questioning"?

• A. Questions that require evidence from the text to answer.
• B. Questions about the author's life.
• C. Questions that rely on outside knowledge.
• D. Questions that rely on opinions.

Answer: (A)

Text-dependent questioning asks you to base your answer on information directly from the passage. It means you must point to exact words, phrases, or details in the text and explain how they support your conclusion. This approach strengthens close reading and evidence-based reasoning, since your answer hinges on what the text actually says rather than on memory, background knowledge, or personal opinions. A question about the author’s life doesn’t require the text’s content and thus isn’t text-dependent. Similarly, relying on outside knowledge pulls in information not present in the passage, and basing an answer on opinions doesn’t demand textual evidence. So, this type of question is best when you show how the text itself supports your answer with specific references.

Text-dependent questioning asks you to base your answer on information directly from the passage. It means you must point to exact words, phrases, or details in the text and explain how they support your conclusion. This approach strengthens close reading and evidence-based reasoning, since your answer hinges on what the text actually says rather than on memory, background knowledge, or personal opinions. A question about the author’s life doesn’t require the text’s content and thus isn’t text-dependent. Similarly, relying on outside knowledge pulls in information not present in the passage, and basing an answer on opinions doesn’t demand textual evidence. So, this type of question is best when you show how the text itself supports your answer with specific references.