Textual evidence is information from a text that is used to support ideas, opinions, beliefs, and arguments. It is a way to support or clarify the claims made by the author in the text. Textual evidence comes into play when an author presents a position or thesis and uses evidence to support the claims. Evidence can come in a number of different forms, such as statistics, testimony, anecdotal evidence, and analogical evidence. Textual evidence is verified text that has been collected from the original source or document that supports a thesis or an argument. It is used to give justification to statements and proves that something is real.

Teaching text evidence to kids is important because it helps them to see beyond the words they read and understand the narrative and information value the text carries. It also helps children to filter information and critically approach literature. Success in higher education is heavily dependent on the ability to detect important information from a text and present it in a clear and structured way. Looking for textual evidence is like asking an author, "How do you know?". When students cite textual evidence in their writing to support their own claims, they strengthen their claims by providing proof.

When evaluating textual evidence, it is important to look for information that is precise, descriptive, and factual. Data are the strongest available pieces of evidence because statistics use analysis to reach strong, accurate conclusions. Clues to look for when analyzing textual evidence include data that includes the source information, direct quotes, and paraphrasing.