Pliny's descriptions of the eruption are so dramatic that students are tempted to quote them constantly. A paper might include the image of a cloud shaped like an umbrella pine, the sound of women wailing in the darkness, and the ash falling like a flood, all within one paragraph. The quotations are engaging, but they often sit there without any explanation of what they prove. Feedback on evidence is therefore one of the most important kinds of comment you can give.

Begin by distinguishing between three separate skills that students tend to blur together. Selecting the right passage requires understanding the argument, introducing it requires giving the reader context, and analyzing it requires explaining what the language reveals. A student who struggles with only one of these needs a very different comment from a student who struggles with all three, so your feedback should name the specific skill.

It also helps to remind students that they are working from a translation. Different editions of Pliny's letters use slightly different phrasing, and a student who builds an argument on a single English word should acknowledge that choice. This is a useful lesson in humility about evidence, and it gives you another point of feedback when students claim more than the translation can support.

Show the Difference Between Weak and Strong Evidence Use

Concrete contrast works better than abstract advice. A weak version might read: Pliny describes the darkness, which shows it was scary. A stronger version would identify the specific comparison he uses, explain that he likens the darkness to a sealed room with the lamp put out, and argue that this domestic image makes an overwhelming event feel intimate to a reader far from Naples.

• Choose a passage that directly supports the point being made
• Introduce the quotation with who is speaking and what is happening
• Keep the quotation short enough to focus on the key words
• Explain what specific words or images reveal about Pliny's purpose
• Link the evidence back to the claim of the paragraph

Use Marginal Comments That Teach Rather Than Fix

A comment that simply says "explain" leaves students unsure whether they are missing a sentence or a whole idea. A more helpful note might read, "You quote the line about the crowd pressing on them, but what does it suggest about how Pliny wants to be seen?" The question points to a specific gap and gives a direction without supplying the answer.

Limit yourself to a few high-value comments per page, since a paper covered in red ink often prompts students to skim rather than read. Choose the two or three problems that will make the biggest difference in the next draft, and mention the rest in a summary note at the end. Students respond better to a focused plan than to a long list of everything that could be improved.

Build Evidence Skills Before the Big Essay

Evidence handling improves fastest when students practice it in short, low-stakes formats. Ask them to write a single paragraph analyzing one sentence from the second letter, then trade with a partner and mark where the explanation could go deeper. These small exercises are quick to grade and let you catch habits early, before they appear in a five-page essay worth a large portion of the term grade.

Reviewing exemplars as a class can sharpen the skill even further. Display a student paragraph with the name removed, and have the class identify exactly where the evidence is introduced, quoted, and analyzed. Doing this together builds shared vocabulary for feedback, so later comments from you or from peers land more quickly. Students begin to see revision as a conversation about specific moves rather than a vague demand to do better.

Keep Feedback Consistent Across a Large Class

Giving thoughtful evidence feedback to every student in a section of thirty or more is demanding. Many teachers keep a personal comment bank with phrases tied to the most frequent evidence problems and adapt them to each paper. This preserves the personal feel of the feedback while saving the time it would take to write every explanation from scratch.

AI-assisted grading tools can support this process by drafting rubric-aligned comments about evidence that the teacher then edits. The advantage is not speed alone but the ability to catch every unexplained quotation, including the ones that slip by when you are tired. Used thoughtfully, the technology helps teachers deliver detailed feedback on evidence to all students, not only to the papers they happen to read early in the evening.