Sherlock Holmes might be the best model of a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph in all of English class. He states a conclusion, points to a specific detail, and explains why the detail supports it. Students who cannot yet do that in their own writing can often spot it clearly when Holmes does it aloud.

The opening chapter of The Hound of the Baskervilles is ideal for this. Holmes and Watson examine a walking stick left behind by a visitor, and Holmes draws several conclusions about the owner from its marks and wear. Watson gets some of it wrong, which is a useful way to show that reasoning can fail when the link between evidence and claim is weak.

Once students see the pattern, the writing task is to copy it. They write a claim about a character or theme, cite the moment in the book that supports it, and then explain the connection. The third step is where most student paragraphs collapse.

Here is how to teach the pattern with the novel and how to grade it without rewriting every paragraph yourself. The approach works for a single paragraph or a full essay. It also gives you a shared language for feedback that students pick up quickly.

Start With Holmes's Own Reasoning

Have students annotate the walking stick scene and label each move as claim, evidence, or reasoning. Then ask them to find where Watson's reasoning has a gap. This gives you a shared example to point back to whenever a student paragraph lacks explanation. It also shows that evidence alone is not enough.

• Claim: a debatable statement about the text, not a plain fact from the plot
• Evidence: a short, specific quote or a precisely described moment, with the scene identified
• Reasoning: at least two sentences explaining how the evidence supports the claim
• Counterpoint: one sentence acknowledging a detail that could point the other way, such as the supernatural reading of the hound
• Link: a closing sentence that ties the paragraph back to the essay's main argument

Grading the Reasoning Step

Reasoning is the hardest part to grade because it is the part students skip. Underline the claim and evidence in one color and the reasoning in another. If a paragraph is mostly one color, students see the imbalance without a long comment.

Watch for the quote sandwich with no filling. A student drops in a line about the hound's glowing eyes, then moves to the next point without saying what it proves. A comment that asks "what does this show about how Doyle builds fear?" usually earns a better revision than a comment that says "explain more."

Using Counterpoints to Deepen Thinking

The novel practically requires counterpoints. Dr. Mortimer and the locals take the curse seriously while Holmes insists on natural explanations, and students who weigh both sides write stronger arguments. Ask for one counterpoint paragraph and score it as a separate line so students learn that acknowledging complexity is a skill.

Not every class will be ready for this at the same time. Offer it as an extension for students who have the basic pattern down and keep the core CER paragraph as the base expectation. Differentiating this way keeps the unit accessible without flattening the strongest writers.

Making CER Feedback Repeatable

CER lends itself well to rubric-based feedback because each element is clear and checkable. An AI tool such as GraideMind can flag paragraphs missing the reasoning step and draft comments tied to each element, which you then review and adjust. That frees your time for conversations that require judgment, like whether a claim is truly arguable.

Whatever process you use, track the same three questions across the unit: is there a claim, is there evidence, is there reasoning. Watching those move from the first paragraph to the last essay gives you an honest picture of growth. It is far more informative than a single letter grade.