Reasoning and Commentary in AP English: Building Stronger Arguments

It’s a comment I hear from teachers everywhere I go. No matter what size of school or district or the AP “passing” rates of the students, it’s the same refrain: students often know how to gather evidence, but using that evidence effectively is another challenge altogether. While this is completely developmentally appropriate for students at this stage of development—and most professors teaching that first year students have the same problem—that doesn’t help fix it. 

As experienced English majors and teachers, we all know that the difference between a good essay and a great one lies not just in identifying strong evidence, but in explaining why that evidence matters. How it relates to the claim(s) being made. This is where reasoning and commentary come in.

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Why Reasoning Matters

Writing is thinking on paper. Most students don’t see it like that: to them writing is just a task to get finished. We want them to write to show their thinking about whatever topic they are writing about. We want them to make a claim about a topic and then support it with good evidence from a text or from their experiences. But they cannot do any of that without thinking about all of it first. It is that thinking that often doesn’t make it to the page. That is their reasoning… their thinking. 

When that reasoning doesn’t make it to the page, then the reader has to fill in the gaps. The reader has to do the student’s thinking for them, and—as I tell my own students—

The harder I have to work to give you credit for your own ideas, the worse off you are. 

I want them to think of reasoning as the roadmap of an essay. Every piece of evidence should have a clear destination, and reasoning makes sure the reader arrives there without confusion. Without a strong line of reasoning, even well-chosen evidence can feel disjointed or underdeveloped to the reader. The problem often emerges from students failing to consider the reader. 

Reasoning Matters Because Audience Matters 

The student writer is not the most important person in an essay. That distinction belongs to the people who will read the essay, the audience. Reasoning guides readers from claim to evidence and back again, ensuring that ideas follow a clear, logical progression that the reader can understand and follow. 

Once students learn to put that reader at the front of their mind, their commentary often becomes focused on the readers’ understanding. I tell students that their audience is educated and curious, but does not have the same experiences or understand things the way that they do, so they have to provide detailed explanations of examples or evidence and explain the thinking they did about those things to help justify the claim.  

It comes down to what, how, and why: what evidence got them thinking about that claim, how does that evidence work in their argument, and why it all justifies the claim they are making. 

The Role of Commentary

Commentary deepens analysis by moving beyond summary. If students get stuck on the “What” and the “How” then they may be summarizing the claim and evidence. While evidence shows what is happening in a text and explaining that evidence gets to how the evidence relates to their thinking, the commentary explains why it matters. Effective commentary asks questions such as:

• How does this evidence support the reasoning related to the main claim (thesis)?
• What does this evidence/example reveal about the author’s purpose?
• What implications or effects arise from this detail?

In other words, commentary interprets evidence and connects it directly to the argument.

Avoiding the Trap of Summary

A common pitfall for students is leaning too heavily on summary. They may quote or paraphrase evidence but stop short of analysis, leaving the reader to infer the connection. Strong writers resist this trap by always pairing evidence with explanation. Instead of repeating what the text says, they clarify why it matters and how it advances the argument.

Building Sophisticated Arguments

Sophisticated arguments emerge when claims, evidence, and commentary are layered thoughtfully and the purpose and claims of the argument are closely aligned and account for implications and/or bigger meanings. In effect, they answer “So What?” about this argument beyond just the argument itself. 

Rather than making a single point and moving on, students can build complexity by:

• Exploring multiple consequences or implications of a claim.
• Showing how evidence/examples relate to larger ideas or themes.
• Using transitions that don’t just move their writing forward, but signal the development of the line of reasoning. 

This approach not only strengthens essays for AP scoring but also fosters the kind of critical thinking expected in college and professional contexts. The ability to follow a line of reasoning and explain evidence is central to all academic writing. Whether drafting a process essay, a research paper, or a literary analysis, students who can provide insightful commentary elevate their writing from surface-level to meaningful.

Practical Approaches for the Classroom

Teachers can help students practice reasoning and commentary through scaffolded strategies:

1. Model the bridge. Show students how to move from evidence to commentary by thinking aloud as you write.
2. Use the “so what?” test. Encourage students to ask why each piece of evidence matters.
3. Provide sentence frames. Starters like This suggests that… or This reveals that… can help students move into analysis.
4. Highlight reasoning chains. Have students trace how each paragraph connects back to the thesis.
5. Use the “who cares” test. Push students to consider why an audience would or should care about the claim and/or purpose of the writing. 

By consistently emphasizing the link between evidence and claims, teachers help students internalize the habit of reasoning.

The Bigger Picture

At its core, academic writing is about making claims clear, persuasive, and purposeful for an audience. A Line of Reasoning ensures that arguments are coherent for the reader and effective commentary ensures the student’s insights and ideas are well explained as part of that reasoning. Together, they help writers move beyond observation into analysis and argument—transforming evidence and examples into essays that resonate with readers.

By focusing on commentary as part of reasoning, students don’t just improve their AP scores. They also develop habits of thinking and writing that will serve them across disciplines, in college, and in life.