supporting details essay

Supporting Details: Understanding Their Importance in Learning

When writing a piece of text, it is important to have a clear and concise main idea or topic sentence. However, in order to fully support and develop this idea, it is necessary to include supporting details. Supporting details are specific pieces of information that provide evidence and credibility to the main idea or topic sentence. They can be found in various forms, such as facts, examples, statistics, and explanations.

Understanding Supporting Details

When writing, supporting details are crucial to effectively convey your message. Supporting details are pieces of factual information that back up the main idea or topic sentence you are trying to convey. They provide clarification to the reader by explaining, describing, and illustrating the main idea within the text.

There are many different types of supporting details, and the type used will depend on the purpose and audience of your writing. Some examples of supporting details include:

• Facts and statistics
• Examples and anecdotes
• Quotations and expert opinions
• Definitions and explanations
• Descriptions and sensory details

When using supporting details, it is important to ensure that they are relevant and accurate. They should also be organized in a logical and coherent manner to help the reader understand the main idea or argument being presented.

To effectively use supporting details, it is helpful to start by identifying the main idea or topic sentence of your writing. Once you have identified the main idea, you can then brainstorm relevant supporting details that will help to clarify and expand upon it.

When incorporating supporting details into your writing, it is also important to consider the tone and style of your writing. For example, if you are writing an academic paper, you may need to use more formal language and include more research-based supporting details.

Types of Supporting Details

When writing an essay or a speech, supporting details are essential for providing credibility and depth to your arguments. There are several types of supporting details that you can use to reinforce your main points.

Factual Details

Factual details are pieces of information that are verifiable and true. These details can include historical events, scientific data, or other evidence that supports your argument. Factual details can be presented in tables, charts, or bullet points to help readers understand complex information. Using factual details can lend credibility to your argument and make it more convincing.

Anecdotal Details

Anecdotal details are personal stories or experiences that illustrate your point. These details can help readers relate to your argument on a more emotional level. Anecdotal details can be presented in a narrative format or as a quote from someone who has experienced the situation you are describing. Using anecdotal details can make your argument more relatable and engaging.

Statistical Details

Statistical details are numerical data that support your argument. These details can include percentages, averages, or other statistical measures. Statistical details can be presented in tables, graphs, or charts to help readers visualize the data. Using statistical details can make your argument more persuasive and provide evidence to support your claims.

Expert Testimony

Expert testimony is the opinion or analysis of an authority in a particular field. This can include quotes from experts, interviews with professionals, or research conducted by reputable sources. Expert testimony can lend credibility to your argument and provide readers with a deeper understanding of the topic. Using expert testimony can make your argument more authoritative and convincing.

Role of Supporting Details in Writing

Enhancing credibility.

Supporting details help to enhance the credibility of your writing. By providing evidence and examples, you can convince your readers that your ideas are valid and reliable. For example, if you are writing an essay about climate change, you can use scientific data and research to support your arguments. This will make your writing more credible and persuasive.

Creating Interest

Supporting details can also help to create interest in your writing. By providing vivid descriptions and engaging examples, you can capture the attention of your readers and keep them interested. For example, if you are writing a travel blog, you can use descriptive language and personal anecdotes to make your writing more engaging and entertaining.

Clarifying Points

Finally, supporting details can help to clarify points in your writing. By providing additional information and explanations, you can make your writing more clear and understandable. For example, if you are writing a technical manual, you can use diagrams and step-by-step instructions to clarify complex processes.

Identifying Supporting Details

Context clues.

Context clues are hints or clues that can help you understand the meaning of a word or phrase. When reading a text, pay attention to the context in which supporting details are presented. Look for words or phrases that provide clues about the purpose of the supporting details. For example, if a text is discussing the benefits of exercise, supporting details might include statistics about the health benefits of physical activity.

Signal Words

Signal words are words or phrases that indicate the relationship between ideas. When reading a text, look for signal words that indicate the presence of supporting details. Signal words that indicate the presence of supporting details include “for example,” “in addition,” “furthermore,” and “moreover.” These words signal that the author is providing additional information to support their main idea.

Logical Connections

Logical connections are the relationships between ideas presented in a text. When reading a text, look for logical connections between the main idea and supporting details. Supporting details should logically connect to the main idea and provide evidence to support it. For example, if a text is arguing that climate change is a serious threat, supporting details might include evidence of rising global temperatures and melting ice caps.

Effective Use of Supporting Details

One of the most important aspects of using supporting details effectively is ensuring that they are relevant to your main argument. This means that you should carefully consider each supporting detail and how it relates to the overall point you are trying to make. If a detail does not directly support your argument, it may be best to leave it out.

To help ensure relevance, consider creating an outline or a list of key points that you want to make in your writing. This can help you stay focused and on track, and can also make it easier to identify which supporting details are most relevant to each point.

Sufficiency

Another important factor to consider when using supporting details is sufficiency. You want to make sure that you provide enough evidence to support your argument, without overwhelming your readers with too much information. This can be a delicate balance, but one that is crucial for effective writing.

To ensure sufficiency, it can be helpful to think about the different types of supporting details you can use, such as examples, statistics , or expert opinions. By using a variety of types of evidence, you can provide a more well-rounded and convincing argument.

Finally, it is important to consider variety when using supporting details. This means that you should try to avoid using the same type of evidence over and over again, as this can become repetitive and dull for your readers. Instead, try to mix things up by using different types of evidence, or by presenting your evidence in different ways (such as through tables, graphs, or bullet points).

Challenges in Using Supporting Details

Avoiding redundancy.

One of the biggest challenges in using supporting details is avoiding redundancy. It can be easy to repeat information or provide details that are not necessary, which can make your writing feel repetitive and boring. To avoid this, make sure that each supporting detail you provide adds something new to your writing. Consider using examples, anecdotes, or statistics to provide unique and interesting details that support your main idea.

Maintaining Objectivity

Another challenge when using supporting details is maintaining objectivity. It is important to provide accurate and unbiased information to support your main idea, but it can be difficult to do so without injecting your own opinions or biases into your writing. To maintain objectivity, make sure that your supporting details are based on facts and evidence rather than personal opinions or beliefs. Use reputable sources and avoid using emotionally charged language that may sway your reader’s opinion.

Ensuring Accuracy

Finally, ensuring accuracy is another challenge when using supporting details. It is important to provide accurate and reliable information to support your main idea, but it can be difficult to verify the accuracy of the information you are using. To ensure accuracy, make sure that you are using reputable sources and double-check any statistics or data that you include in your writing. If you are unsure about the accuracy of a particular detail, consider leaving it out or finding additional sources to confirm its validity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some examples of supporting details?

Supporting details are pieces of information that help to clarify the main idea of a paragraph or essay. Some examples of supporting details include descriptions, examples, reasons, explanations, and comparisons.

What are the two types of supporting details?

There are two types of supporting details: major and minor. Major supporting details are more important and provide a stronger support for the main idea, while minor supporting details are less important and provide a weaker support.

What is the purpose of supporting details in writing?

The purpose of supporting details in writing is to provide evidence to support the main idea of a paragraph or essay. Supporting details help to clarify and explain the main idea, making it easier for the reader to understand and follow the writer’s point of view.

How do supporting details contribute to the main idea of a paragraph?

Supporting details contribute to the main idea of a paragraph by providing evidence and examples that support and clarify the main idea. They help to make the main idea more convincing and persuasive, and they also help to make the paragraph more interesting and engaging for the reader.

What are some common types of supporting details used in writing?

Some common types of supporting details used in writing include descriptions, examples, reasons, explanations, and comparisons. These types of supporting details help to clarify and explain the main idea of a paragraph or essay, making it easier for the reader to understand and follow the writer’s point of view.

How can one effectively write supporting details in a paragraph?

To effectively write supporting details in a paragraph, one should start by identifying the main idea of the paragraph. Then, one should choose supporting details that are relevant and provide evidence to support the main idea. It is important to use a variety of supporting details, such as descriptions, examples, reasons, explanations, and comparisons, to make the paragraph more interesting and engaging for the reader. Finally, one should organize the supporting details in a logical and coherent manner that makes it easy for the reader to follow the writer’s point of view.

Last Updated on August 29, 2023

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What are supporting details in a body paragraph?

This is the first of three chapters about Supporting Details . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.   

– Review the various body-paragraph elements which are useful in academic essays

– Explore the importance of supporting details

– Introduce the various types of supporting details, such as evidence, examples and explanations

Chapter 1: What are supporting details in a body paragraph?

Chapter 2: How can I add evidence, examples and explanation?

Chapter 3: Why are implications important in body support?

Before you begin reading...

• video and audio texts
• knowledge checks and quizzes
• skills practices, tasks and assignments

The body of an essay is its most important section, and the trickiest part to get right. While the introduction and the conclusion can follow a fairly straightforward pattern, for the body section there is more variation in a how a student can structure their writing to create an effective essay. Thankfully, whether you’re writing a compare and contrast , evaluative   or problem-solution   essay, there are still a number of key body-paragraph elements you should try to include to help guarantee high grades – and the most important of these are called supporting details . 

In this short three-chapter reader, we explore the concept of supporting details (Chapter 1), the different types of supporting detail on offer (Chapter 2) and why providing implications in your support is so important (Chapter 3). For a more general introduction to body sections, students may wish to first visit our short reader about body paragraphs .

Body-Section Elements

There are three key essay elements within a body paragraph that students should make sure they’ve included before submitting their assignment . These are topic sentences , supporting details   and summary-transition sentences . An example of each element is provided for you below, taken from our example problem-solution essay about air pollution. Read these excerpts carefully and see if you can guess the purpose of each element:

Were you able to determine the following purpose for each element?

Topic Sentence = inform the reader of the main idea of the paragraph (which should connect with the introductory thesis, i.e., the focus of the whole essay)

Supporting detail = provide support for the main idea(s) stated in the topic sentence, usually by using evidence (facts and statistics), examples and explanations

Summary-transition sentence = remind the reader of the main idea being explored in the paragraph, summarise the key arguments or findings, or transition (move smoothly) from the main idea of this paragraph to the main idea of the next

The Importance of Supporting Details

Where topic and summary sentences take up only about 20% of a body paragraph, the remaining 80% of that paragraph should be dedicated to an exploration of the topic-sentence’s main idea(s). This is done through the inclusion of a variety of convincing and related supporting details. Because the key aim of an academic essay is to be persuasive, logical and concise , persuading your reader of your opinion or stance will require the inclusion and explanation of a number of sources and source-based experiments and examples in the form of supporting details. 

Whenever you include statistics or facts, or case studies or historical events, or when you explain or contextualise such evidence, each of these sentences forms part of a supporting detail, and without such details your essay would have very little substance. That essay would not convince your reader of your viewpoint, and it would not receive a high grade.

Supporting-Detail Elements

Supporting details have a few dif ferent elements that students are encouraged to include, namely evidence, examples, explanation and implications. However, depending on the essay type being written, sentences which are dedicated to providing solutions to problems or to describing the effects caused by a particular situation may also be required.

To see examples of these elements, let’s look at the first body paragraph of an example evaluative essay which answers the question “Global warming is a relatively new phenomenon that may be providing more advantages than disadvantages for the future of healthy ecosystems on this planet. Discuss.”

By studying this table carefully, you should be able to see how a body paragraph may have multiple supporting details (this paragraph has two) and how each supporting detail may be comprised of a number of elements, such as evidence, examples and explanation. For a closer look at how these supporting-detail elements function, and for guidance on how to include them in your own academic essay, continue reading on to Chapter 2 of this short reader.

To reference this reader:

Academic Marker (2022) Supporting Details . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/essay-writing/body-paragraphs/supporting-details/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).

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Downloadables

Once you’ve completed all three chapters in this short reader about Supporting Details , you might then wish to download our Chapter Worksheets to check your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks .

Chapter 1 explores the topic: What are supporting details in a body paragraph? Our Chapter 1 Worksheet (containing guidance, activities and answer keys) can be accessed here at the click of a button. 

Chapter 2 explores the topic: How can I add evidence, examples and explanation? Our Chapter 2 Worksheet (containing guidance, activities and answer keys) can be accessed here at the click of a button. 

Chapter 3 explores the topic: Why are implications important in body support? Our  Chapter 3 Worksheet (containing guidance, activities and answer keys) can be accessed here at the click of a button. 

To save yourself 2 Marks , click on the button below to gain unlimited access to all of our Supporting Details Chapter Worksheets. This  All-in-1 Pack includes every chapter, activity and answer key related this topic in one handy and professional PDF.

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9.2 Writing Body Paragraphs

Learning objectives.

• Select primary support related to your thesis.
• Support your topic sentences.

If your thesis gives the reader a roadmap to your essay, then body paragraphs should closely follow that map. The reader should be able to predict what follows your introductory paragraph by simply reading the thesis statement.

The body paragraphs present the evidence you have gathered to confirm your thesis. Before you begin to support your thesis in the body, you must find information from a variety of sources that support and give credit to what you are trying to prove.

Select Primary Support for Your Thesis

Without primary support, your argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described as the major points you choose to expand on your thesis. It is the most important information you select to argue for your point of view. Each point you choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each body paragraph you write. Your primary supporting points are further supported by supporting details within the paragraphs.

Remember that a worthy argument is backed by examples. In order to construct a valid argument, good writers conduct lots of background research and take careful notes. They also talk to people knowledgeable about a topic in order to understand its implications before writing about it.

Identify the Characteristics of Good Primary Support

In order to fulfill the requirements of good primary support, the information you choose must meet the following standards:

• Be specific. The main points you make about your thesis and the examples you use to expand on those points need to be specific. Use specific examples to provide the evidence and to build upon your general ideas. These types of examples give your reader something narrow to focus on, and if used properly, they leave little doubt about your claim. General examples, while they convey the necessary information, are not nearly as compelling or useful in writing because they are too obvious and typical.
• Be relevant to the thesis. Primary support is considered strong when it relates directly to the thesis. Primary support should show, explain, or prove your main argument without delving into irrelevant details. When faced with lots of information that could be used to prove your thesis, you may think you need to include it all in your body paragraphs. But effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Choose your examples wisely by making sure they directly connect to your thesis.
• Be detailed. Remember that your thesis, while specific, should not be very detailed. The body paragraphs are where you develop the discussion that a thorough essay requires. Using detailed support shows readers that you have considered all the facts and chosen only the most precise details to enhance your point of view.

Prewrite to Identify Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

Recall that when you prewrite you essentially make a list of examples or reasons why you support your stance. Stemming from each point, you further provide details to support those reasons. After prewriting, you are then able to look back at the information and choose the most compelling pieces you will use in your body paragraphs.

Choose one of the following working thesis statements. On a separate sheet of paper, write for at least five minutes using one of the prewriting techniques you learned in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

• Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.
• Students cheat for many different reasons.
• Drug use among teens and young adults is a problem.
• The most important change that should occur at my college or university is ____________________________________________.

Select the Most Effective Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

After you have prewritten about your working thesis statement, you may have generated a lot of information, which may be edited out later. Remember that your primary support must be relevant to your thesis. Remind yourself of your main argument, and delete any ideas that do not directly relate to it. Omitting unrelated ideas ensures that you will use only the most convincing information in your body paragraphs. Choose at least three of only the most compelling points. These will serve as the topic sentences for your body paragraphs.

Refer to the previous exercise and select three of your most compelling reasons to support the thesis statement. Remember that the points you choose must be specific and relevant to the thesis. The statements you choose will be your primary support points, and you will later incorporate them into the topic sentences for the body paragraphs.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

When you support your thesis, you are revealing evidence. Evidence includes anything that can help support your stance. The following are the kinds of evidence you will encounter as you conduct your research:

• Facts. Facts are the best kind of evidence to use because they often cannot be disputed. They can support your stance by providing background information on or a solid foundation for your point of view. However, some facts may still need explanation. For example, the sentence “The most populated state in the United States is California” is a pure fact, but it may require some explanation to make it relevant to your specific argument.
• Judgments. Judgments are conclusions drawn from the given facts. Judgments are more credible than opinions because they are founded upon careful reasoning and examination of a topic.
• Testimony. Testimony consists of direct quotations from either an eyewitness or an expert witness. An eyewitness is someone who has direct experience with a subject; he adds authenticity to an argument based on facts. An expert witness is a person who has extensive experience with a topic. This person studies the facts and provides commentary based on either facts or judgments, or both. An expert witness adds authority and credibility to an argument.
• Personal observation. Personal observation is similar to testimony, but personal observation consists of your testimony. It reflects what you know to be true because you have experiences and have formed either opinions or judgments about them. For instance, if you are one of five children and your thesis states that being part of a large family is beneficial to a child’s social development, you could use your own experience to support your thesis.

Writing at Work

In any job where you devise a plan, you will need to support the steps that you lay out. This is an area in which you would incorporate primary support into your writing. Choosing only the most specific and relevant information to expand upon the steps will ensure that your plan appears well-thought-out and precise.

You can consult a vast pool of resources to gather support for your stance. Citing relevant information from reliable sources ensures that your reader will take you seriously and consider your assertions. Use any of the following sources for your essay: newspapers or news organization websites, magazines, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals, which are periodicals that address topics in a specialized field.

Choose Supporting Topic Sentences

Each body paragraph contains a topic sentence that states one aspect of your thesis and then expands upon it. Like the thesis statement, each topic sentence should be specific and supported by concrete details, facts, or explanations.

Each body paragraph should comprise the following elements.

topic sentence + supporting details (examples, reasons, or arguments)

As you read in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , topic sentences indicate the location and main points of the basic arguments of your essay. These sentences are vital to writing your body paragraphs because they always refer back to and support your thesis statement. Topic sentences are linked to the ideas you have introduced in your thesis, thus reminding readers what your essay is about. A paragraph without a clearly identified topic sentence may be unclear and scattered, just like an essay without a thesis statement.

Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, you should include at least three body paragraphs in your essay. A five-paragraph essay, including the introduction and conclusion, is commonly the standard for exams and essay assignments.

Consider the following the thesis statement:

Author J.D. Salinger relied primarily on his personal life and belief system as the foundation for the themes in the majority of his works.

The following topic sentence is a primary support point for the thesis. The topic sentence states exactly what the controlling idea of the paragraph is. Later, you will see the writer immediately provide support for the sentence.

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, a disorder that influenced themes in many of his works.

In Note 9.19 “Exercise 2” , you chose three of your most convincing points to support the thesis statement you selected from the list. Take each point and incorporate it into a topic sentence for each body paragraph.

Supporting point 1: ____________________________________________

Topic sentence: ____________________________________________

Supporting point 2: ____________________________________________

Supporting point 3: ____________________________________________

Draft Supporting Detail Sentences for Each Primary Support Sentence

After deciding which primary support points you will use as your topic sentences, you must add details to clarify and demonstrate each of those points. These supporting details provide examples, facts, or evidence that support the topic sentence.

The writer drafts possible supporting detail sentences for each primary support sentence based on the thesis statement:

Thesis statement: Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.

Supporting point 1: Dogs can scare cyclists and pedestrians.

Supporting details:

• Cyclists are forced to zigzag on the road.
• School children panic and turn wildly on their bikes.
• People who are walking at night freeze in fear.

Supporting point 2:

Loose dogs are traffic hazards.

• Dogs in the street make people swerve their cars.
• To avoid dogs, drivers run into other cars or pedestrians.
• Children coaxing dogs across busy streets create danger.

Supporting point 3: Unleashed dogs damage gardens.

• They step on flowers and vegetables.
• They destroy hedges by urinating on them.
• They mess up lawns by digging holes.

The following paragraph contains supporting detail sentences for the primary support sentence (the topic sentence), which is underlined.

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, a disorder that influenced the themes in many of his works. He did not hide his mental anguish over the horrors of war and once told his daughter, “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose, no matter how long you live.” His short story “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” details a day in the life of a WWII veteran who was recently released from an army hospital for psychiatric problems. The man acts questionably with a little girl he meets on the beach before he returns to his hotel room and commits suicide. Another short story, “For Esmé – with Love and Squalor,” is narrated by a traumatized soldier who sparks an unusual relationship with a young girl he meets before he departs to partake in D-Day. Finally, in Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye , he continues with the theme of posttraumatic stress, though not directly related to war. From a rest home for the mentally ill, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield narrates the story of his nervous breakdown following the death of his younger brother.

Using the three topic sentences you composed for the thesis statement in Note 9.18 “Exercise 1” , draft at least three supporting details for each point.

Thesis statement: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 1: ____________________________________________

Supporting details: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 2: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 3: ____________________________________________

You have the option of writing your topic sentences in one of three ways. You can state it at the beginning of the body paragraph, or at the end of the paragraph, or you do not have to write it at all. This is called an implied topic sentence. An implied topic sentence lets readers form the main idea for themselves. For beginning writers, it is best to not use implied topic sentences because it makes it harder to focus your writing. Your instructor may also want to clearly identify the sentences that support your thesis. For more information on the placement of thesis statements and implied topic statements, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

Print out the first draft of your essay and use a highlighter to mark your topic sentences in the body paragraphs. Make sure they are clearly stated and accurately present your paragraphs, as well as accurately reflect your thesis. If your topic sentence contains information that does not exist in the rest of the paragraph, rewrite it to more accurately match the rest of the paragraph.

Key Takeaways

• Your body paragraphs should closely follow the path set forth by your thesis statement.
• Strong body paragraphs contain evidence that supports your thesis.
• Primary support comprises the most important points you use to support your thesis.
• Strong primary support is specific, detailed, and relevant to the thesis.
• Prewriting helps you determine your most compelling primary support.
• Evidence includes facts, judgments, testimony, and personal observation.
• Reliable sources may include newspapers, magazines, academic journals, books, encyclopedias, and firsthand testimony.
• A topic sentence presents one point of your thesis statement while the information in the rest of the paragraph supports that point.
• A body paragraph comprises a topic sentence plus supporting details.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Supporting Details

Let’s talk about supporting details and how they can help strengthen your writing. A paragraph usually starts with the main idea—also called the topic sentence—and the rest of the paragraph gives specific details to support and develop that point. Today, we’ll be talking about those details, called supporting details.

Supporting Details Definition

Think of it this way: If you’re building a table then you need a flat surface for the tabletop, this is like your main point or topic sentence. If that flat surface doesn’t have any legs to stand on, though, it’s no good as a table! The supporting details are like the legs of the table, propping up the topic sentence.

Types of Supporting Details

There are six main types of supporting details: descriptions, vocabulary, proof, voices, explanation, and importance.

Description

Description is fairly self-explanatory: the writer can use the five senses, comparison, and metaphors to help paint a vivid picture for the reader.

Vocabulary helps with clarification. For example, if you have a topic sentence that relies on the word pulchritudinous , it might help to include a definition of the word so the reader doesn’t get sidetracked. ( Pulchritudinous means “beautiful,” by the way.)

Proof is often made up of facts , statistics, and dates that are hard evidence for your main point

“Voices” are expert quotes, individual opinions, or different perspectives that can be considered “soft proof.”

Explanation

Explanation is restating the main point more simply, and “importance” is answering the question “so what?” after a fact or a quote.

Supporting Details Examples

Let’s take a look at a quick example.

  Okay, so our main point is that first sentence: being a celebrity is difficult. The supporting details follow. You can see a voice is presented, that of Perez Hilton, a descriptive explanation, directing you to think about the paparazzi photos, and two simply descriptive phrases. This paragraph would be even stronger with a testimonial about a real-life story of a celebrity facing danger because of their place in the public image—that would be a proof-based supporting detail.

When you’re writing supporting details, it’s important not to stray too far from your original point. Remember, every paragraph in a written work is pointing back in some way to your overall thesis, and every sentence in the paragraph is pointing to the main point of that paragraph.

If you have a main point about, say, how dogs are man’s best friend, you wouldn’t want to use an example of how disloyal cats are in that paragraph. Save that point for another paragraph—stay focused on facts about dogs in the supporting paragraph about dogs. If you get off track from your main point, your reader might get confused and lose interest.

A common mistake in writing a paper is not providing enough specific details. The more specific, the better. A vague detail is like a thin table leg, it will make your entire point wobbly. Often vague details come when you’re pressed for time or don’t want to research a topic fully—take the time to make your paper worth reading. Let’s look at an example to further prove this point. You could write something like this:

  Okay. You know in general what’s happening. But think how much more convincing the following sentence would be:

  That’s a little more vivid, isn’t it? The details are strong and vibrant, not generic and vague. It makes the writer’s point much more clearly.

So let’s look back on what we’ve learned. Supporting details help hold up your main point. They should be specific, creative, and focused on the main point of the paragraph. Do this, and your writing will greatly improve.

I hope this video has been helpful and that you feel prepped and empowered. Thanks for watching!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are supporting details.

In a literary text, supporting details are general information that clarifies, supports, or explains the main idea or thesis in greater detail, proving the main idea’s credibility with supporting details and examples from the text in order to better understand the story and what the main idea is.

Where do supporting details usually appear in an essay?

Supporting details most often appear within the body of the essay.

How do I identify the main idea and supporting details?

The first sentence within the first paragraph generally contains the main idea. A thesis statement is often placed at the end of the introductory paragraph, followed by the essential supporting details, which are shared within the body paragraphs.

How do I write supporting details?

Supporting details are the well-researched facts and statements, detailed descriptions, examples, and specific details that lead the reader to comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. Supporting details provide clarification to the reader by explaining, describing, and illustrating the main idea within the text. Comparing and contrasting essays are good ways to write supporting details.

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Supporting Detail in Composition and Speech

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

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• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In a composition or speech , a supporting detail is a fact, description , example , quotation , anecdote , or other item of information used to back up a claim , illustrate a point, explain an idea, or otherwise support a thesis or topic sentence .

Depending on a number of factors (including topic , purpose , and audience ), supporting details may be drawn from research or the personal experience of the writer or speaker. Even "the smallest detail," says Barry Lane, "can open up a new way of seeing the subject" ( Writing as a Road to Self-Discovery ).

​Examples of Supporting Details in Paragraphs

• Descriptive Details in Stegner's "Town Dump"
• Hot Hands, by Stephen Jay Gould
• Poe's New York in the 1840s
• Status Details in Tom Wolfe's Descriptions

Examples and Observations

• "Good writers provide sufficient details such as examples, facts, quotations , and definitions to support their ideas. Writers use this information, known as supporting detail , to explain, clarify, or illustrate their main points. Without such specific material, a writer's ideas remain abstract and unconvincing. Experienced writers try, whenever possible, to show rather than simply tell their readers what their ideas mean." (Peter S. Gardner, New Directions: Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking , 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Supporting Details in a Paragraph on Solitary Prison Cells

• "Supermax prisons are exactingly designed to kill souls. A solitary cell (referred to as the 'hole' or the 'box') is typically between seventy and eighty square feet, and prisoners are kept alone in them for twenty-three hours a day, with one hour alone in a 'yard' barely twice the size of the cell and a shower perhaps three times a week. Practically all human contact is mediated by bars, mesh or manacles, and many cells are windowless, with an inmate’s exposure to the world outside the cell limited to the door slots through which food is passed by the gloved hands of jailers, often in the form of 'the loaf,' a disgusting pressed amalgam of pulverized food. Cells are, in most cases, deliberately colorless (any 'aesthetic' ingredient is considered an inappropriate privilege in an environment that seeks to level all distinctions to the basest level) and are built--bunks and all--from bare concrete; the only furnishing is a stainless steel toilet-and-sink combo positioned to deny privacy. The lighting is never turned off." (Michael Sorkin, "Drawing the Line." The Nation , September 16, 2013)

Supporting Details in a Paragraph on Baby Boomers

• "The truth is our generation was spoiled rotten from the start. We spent the entire 1950s on our butts in front of the television while Mom fed us Twinkies and Ring Dings through strawberry Flavor Straws and Dad ransacked the toy stores looking for hundred-mile-an-hour streamlined Schwinns, Daisy air howitzers, Lionel train sets larger than the New York Central system, and other novelties to keep us amused during the few hours when Pinky Lee and My Friend Flicka weren't on the air." (P.J. O'Rourke, "The 1987 Stock Market Crash." Age and Guile, Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut . Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995)

Supporting Details in a Paragraph on Segregation

• "In practice, of course, the 'separate but equal' doctrine perpetuated an oppressive and humiliating reality. To express the judgment that African Americans were inferior and that white people needed to be protected from their contaminating presence, black people were consigned to the back of the bus, directed to use distinct drinking fountains and telephone booths, excluded altogether from white schools and hospitals, permitted to visit zoos and museums only on certain days, confined to designated areas in courtrooms, and sworn in as witnesses using racially differentiated Bibles. Under segregation, white people routinely declined to bestow courtesy titles such as 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.' on black people, referring to them simply as 'boy' or 'girl,' regardless of age. Stores prohibited African Americans from trying on clothes before purchase. Telephone directories marked black residents by placing 'col' (for colored) in parentheses next to their names. Newspapers refused to carry notices for black weddings." (Randall Kennedy, "The Civil Rights Act's Unsung Victory."  Harper's , June 2014)

Rachel Carson's Use of Supporting Details

• "For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death. In the less than two decades of their use, the synthetic pesticides have been so thoroughly distributed throughout the animate and inanimate world that they occur virtually everywhere. They have been recovered from most of the major river systems and even from streams of groundwater flowing unseen through the earth. Residues of these chemicals linger in soil to which they may have been applied a dozen years before. They have entered and lodged in the bodies of fish, birds, reptiles, and domestic and wild animals so universally that scientists carrying on animal experiments find it almost impossible to locate subjects free from such contamination. They have been found in fish in remote mountain lakes, in earthworms burrowing in soil, in the eggs of birds--and in man himself. For these chemicals are now stored in the bodies of the vast majority of human beings, regardless. of age. They occur in the mother's milk, and probably in the tissues of the unborn child." (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring . Houghton Mifflin, 1962)

The Purpose of Supporting Details

• "Once you have constructed a topic sentence made up of the topic and its controlling idea, you are ready to support your statement with details. The quality and number of these details will largely determine the effectiveness of the writing. . . . "As you choose your supporting details , keep in mind that the readers do not necessarily have to agree with your point of view. However, your supporting details must be good enough to make your readers at least respect your attitude. Your goal should be to educate your readers. Try to give them some understanding of your subject. Don't assume they know about your topic or are interested in it. If you provide enough specific details your readers will feel they have learned something new about the subject, and this alone is a satisfying experience for most people. Effective supporting details will encourage readers to keep on reading." (Sandra Scarry and John Scarry, The Writer's Workplace With Readings: Building College Writing Skills , 7th ed. Wadsworth, 2011)

Organizing Supporting Details in a Paragraph

• "Each body paragraph should contain only one main idea, and no detail or example should be in a paragraph if it doesn't support the topic sentence or help to transition from one paragraph to another. . . .
• "[H]ere's the way to organize a paragraph: Topic sentence First supporting detail or example Second supporting detail or example Third supporting detail or example Concluding or transitional sentence You should have several details to support each topic sentence. If you find that you have little to say after writing the topic sentence, ask yourself what details or examples will make your reader believe that the topic sentence is true for you." (Paige L. Wilson and Teresa Ferster Glazier, ​ The Least You Should Know about English, Form B , 10th ed. Wadsworth, 2009)

Selective Supporting Details

• " Select details carefully . Good storytelling requires the purposeful selection of details. Some beginning writers include either the wrong details or more details than the effective relating of the event requires. In your narrative writing , you should select details that help you to convey to your readers the point of your essay. This is what [George] Orwell did in the passage from "A Hanging" [paragraphs 9 and 10]. The detail of the condemned man avoiding the puddle of water related to Orwell's purpose in telling the story and to the meaning he saw in it." (Morton A. Miller, Reading and Writing Short Essays . Random House, 1980)
• Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
• How to Write a Good Descriptive Paragraph
• Unity in Composition
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
• Topic In Composition and Speech
• How to Structure an Essay
• What Is Expository Writing?
• Development in Composition: Building an Essay
• Outlines for Every Type of Writing Composition
• Understanding General-to-Specific Order in Composition
• An Essay Revision Checklist
• The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• How to Teach Topic Sentences Using Models
• Paragraph Length in Compositions and Reports

Supporting Details

In a unified paragraph, all of the sentences directly support the main idea or topic sentence.  Including details that are not relevant to the main idea makes your paragraph unclear and distracts your reader from the point you are making.  

The Purpose of Supporting Details

• Keep the reader focused on the main idea of the paragraph
• Demonstrate that your topic sentence or main idea is accurate and believable
• Make your meaning clear and forceful with concrete, specific information

Questions to Consider

• Does this sentence directly explain the topic sentence or main idea?  What new information does it add?
• Would any essential information be lost if this sentence were deleted?  If not, delete it.
• Is this information distracting or unimportant?  If so, delete it.

Types of Supporting Details

• Reasons — explanations that tell why an opinion is valid
• Facts — statements that can be proved
• Statistics — facts expressed in numbers
• Examples — specific instances that explain or demonstrate a point
• Sensory Details — appeals to one or more of the physical senses
• Anecdotes — brief stories about a character or event

NOTE: Using a quote or paraphrasing another author’s ideas is not, in and of itself, a good supporting detail!  To use citation effectively, you need to explain the connection between the citation and your main point in your own words.

Sample Paragraph with Supporting Details

Reality TV shows that followed Survivor had none of the interesting elements that it had.   Big Brother was the first spin-off reality TV show to try to repeat the success of Survivor , but it did not offer the drama that Survivor did.  In Big Brother , contestants were locked in a house without any outside contact for weeks.  As in Survivor , there was a cash prize on the line, but in Big Brother there were not any competitions or struggles.  Contestants were expelled by a viewer phone poll, so the poll gave them no motive to scheme and plot allegiances the way Survivor contestants did.  In fact, the contestants had little to do except bicker and fight.  Viewers lost interest in players who were not up against any challenge except weeks of boredom.  In the end, Big Brother was simply not interesting.

Guidelines for Supporting Details

Focus on who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.

Vague: Some animals hibernate for part of the year. (What animals? Where?)

Specific: Some bears hibernate for three to four months each winter.

Name names.

Vague: When my sixty-three-year-old aunt was refused a job, she became an angry victim of age discrimination.

Specific: When my sixty-three-year-old Aunt Angela was refused a job at Vicki’s Nail Salon, she became an angry victim of age discrimination.

Use action verbs.

Vague: When Silina came on stage, the audience became excited.

Specific: When Silina burst onto the stage, the audience screamed, cheered, and chanted “Silina, Silina!”

Use descriptive language that appeals to the senses (smell, touch, taste, sound, sight).

Vague: It’s relaxing to walk on the beach.

Specific: I walked in the sand next to the ocean, breathing in the smell of the salt water and listening to the rhythmic sound of the waves.

Use adjectives and adverbs.

Vague: As I weeded my garden, I let my eyes wander over the meadow sweets and hydrangeas, all the while listening to the chirping of a cardinal.

Specific: As I slowly weeded my perennial garden, I let my eyes wander over the pink meadow sweets and blue hydrangeas, all the while listening absent-mindedly to the chirping of a bright red cardinal.

NOTE: Use adjectives and adverbs carefully.  A passage filled with too many modifiers will be tiring to your reader.  Think about which modifiers help to make the idea feel concrete and real to your readers and choose wisely.

Kaylan | 2019

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

Chapter 6 Drafting

6.3 supporting a thesis, learning objectives.

• Understand the general goal of writing a paper.
• Be aware of how you can create supporting details.
• Recognize procedures for using supporting details.

Supporting your thesis is the overall goal of your whole paper. It means presenting information that will convince your readers that your thesis makes sense. You need to take care to choose the best supporting details for your thesis.

Creating Supporting Details

You can and should use a variety of kinds of support for your thesis. One of the easiest forms of support to use is personal observations and experiences. The strong point in favor of using personal anecdotes is that they add interest and emotion, both of which can pull audiences along. On the other hand, the anecdotal and subjective nature of personal observations and experiences makes them too weak to support a thesis on their own.

Since they can be verified, facts can help strengthen personal anecdotes by giving them substance and grounding. For example, if you tell a personal anecdote about having lost twenty pounds by using a Hula-Hoop for twenty minutes after every meal, the story seems interesting, but readers might not think it is a serious weight-loss technique. But if you follow up the story with some facts about the benefit of exercising for twenty minutes after every meal, the Hula-Hoop story takes on more credibility. Although facts are undeniably useful in writing projects, a paper full of nothing but fact upon fact would not be very interesting to read.

Like anecdotal information, your opinions can help make facts more interesting. On their own, opinions are weak support for a thesis. But coupled with specific relevant facts, opinions can add a great deal of interest to your work. In addition, opinions are excellent tools for convincing an audience that your thesis makes sense.

Similar to your opinions are details from expert testimony and personal interviews. Both of these kinds of sources provide no shortage of opinions. Expert opinions can carry a little more clout than your own, but you should be careful not to rely too much on them. However, it’s safe to say that finding quality opinions from others and presenting them in support of your ideas will make others more likely to agree with your ideas.

Statistics can provide excellent support for your thesis. Statistics are facts expressed in numbers. For example, say you relay the results of a study that showed that 90 percent of people who exercise for twenty minutes after every meal lose two pounds per week. Such statistics lend strong, credible support to a thesis.

Examples —real or made up—are powerful tools you can use to clarify and support your facts, opinions, and statistics. A detail that sounds insignificant or meaningless can become quite significant when clarified with an example. For example, you could cite your sister Lydia as an example of someone who lost thirty pounds in a month by exercising after every meal. Using a name and specifics makes it seem very personal and real. As long as you use examples ethically and logically, they can be tremendous assets. On the other hand, when using examples, take care not to intentionally mislead your readers or distort reality. For example, if your sister Lydia also gave birth to a baby during that month, leaving that key bit of information out of the example would be misleading.

Procedures for Using Supporting Details

You are likely to find or think of details that relate to your topic and are interesting, but that do not support your thesis. Including such details in your paper is unwise because they are distracting and irrelevant.

In today’s rich world of technology, you have many options when it comes to choosing sources of information. Make sure you choose only reliable sources. Even if some information sounds absolutely amazing, if it comes from an unreliable source, don’t use it. It might sound amazing for a reason—because it has been amazingly made up.

When you find a new detail, make sure you can find it in at least one more source so you can safely accept it as true. Take this step even when you think the source is reliable because even reliable sources can include errors. When you find new information, make sure to put it into your essay or file of notes right away. Never rely on your memory.

Take great care to organize your supporting details so that they can best support your thesis. One strategy is to list the most powerful information first. Another is to present information in a natural sequence, such as chronological order. A third option is to use a compare/contrast format. Choose whatever method you think will most clearly support your thesis.

Make sure to use at least two or three supporting details for each main idea. In a longer essay, you can easily include more than three supporting details per idea, but in a shorter essay, you might not have space for any more.

Key Takeaways

• A thesis gives an essay a purpose, which is to present details that support the thesis.
• To create supporting details, you can use personal observations and experiences, facts, opinions, statistics, and examples.
• When choosing details for your essay, exclude any that do not support your thesis, make sure you use only reliable sources, double-check your facts for accuracy, organize your details to best support your thesis, and include at least two or three details to support each main idea.

• Choose a topic of interest to you and write a possible thesis related to the topic. Write one sentence that is both related to the topic and relevant to the thesis. Write one sentence that is related to the topic but not relevant to the thesis.
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What Is Supporting Details, Uses & Importance in Essay Writing & Where Does It Appears

Writing your essay means communicating with your readers and transferring your thoughts, feelings, and ideas for better understanding. It can be completed through non-verbal or verbal methods of conversation.

Your essay writing is a non-verbal way to express your thoughts and convince your targeted readers of the ideas you are talking about. The essay you have written or are going to start – can it communicate effectively to convince and hook your readers without losing their interest? By mastering supporting details, you can bring clarity to your writing, ensuring your ideas are effectively communicated and understood and empowering you to write confidently.

If you are still confused and looking for the best way to complete your writing task by communicating clearly, we have got you covered in this blog post. We provide practical tips and examples to aid you in supporting your argument/idea by leveraging the method of supporting details and their uses in your writing after your ideas.

Let’s explore everything to learn about comprehensively supporting details.

Table of Contents

What Is Supporting Details?

Supporting details are facts, information, statistics, reasons, descriptions, voices, proof, etc., to endorse a central idea. At the same time, it helps in writing an essay to an author and reading a book or any information by a reader with a better understanding.

The Crucial Role of Supporting Details: Why They Matter in Your Essays

They are not just a part of your essay but the backbone of your arguments and ideas; understanding their importance and how to use them effectively can significantly elevate your skills, whether it is essay writing or reading with clarity. It has the potential to transform your writing, making it more persuasive and engaging, inspiring you to take your essay writing to the next level.

The following are some reasons I have learned from my experience writing essays for college purposes, blogs, and various articles as an author. All the reasons are going to assist you in completing a better essay or reading anything effectively.

• You can write a complete thought to let your readers get the information they are looking for.
• Do you know the power of telling a story? It is magic to engage your readers and hook them to continue reading, but you can tell a story when you add all the things that support your main idea.
• Bring a flow to your writing to communicate without starting another idea, which should not be included.
• You can convince the reader about the ideas you are talking about.
• The data (proof) will help your content stand out in the competition.
• There are chances when your essay gets published if you have something unique to show in your content.
• It can rank well in search engines if published by anyone.
• Improve your writing skills as well as your reading.
• You learn so many other things when you search in-depth to support your idea.

Where Do Supporting Details Appear?

There is no rocket science to add supporting details when you write your essay. It can be added when you mention a particular idea to talk about.

Suppose you are going to talk about inspirational journals . It is an idea now. What are some of the things that you will be talking about for the journal? Describe it, tell a story about it, and let the reader get all the insights about it.

You will talk about why writing an inspirational journal is crucial, how it was started, how it benefits a person psychologically, how it can help get mentally fit to a person, and include statistics such as how many people buy diaries every day, month, or yearly, right? So, that will be your supporting details for the inspirational journals. Just mention the ideas first and provide all the supporting information to support your ideas or argument.

So, it is how you can add supportive details for your ideas when writing an essay to earn good marks and impress your professor.

How to Use Supporting Details?

It can be used in various ways so that readers can understand them well, depending on the author and how they describe them. Below is a complete explanation one can follow to write an essay with supportive details.

• Including charts: suppose you are talking about an idea of product sales such as tally books in a particular year. Instead of showing data in figures, as it will increase the text and make it lengthy, you can use a charge to visualize the data and support your idea, which is one of the top and most effective ways to convey a message to your targeted audience.
• Descriptions: descriptions will help you show all the details and tell more about the idea you are talking about. Suppose you are talking about a well-known personality. It will help you describe all about it in detail.
• Vocabulary:  these are words that can aid in telling about a thing in a few words only. Suppose you have an idea for diary writing; you can sum it up just by saying journal because this word is a specialty used for writing diaries to express oneself, record prayers, experiences with something, etc.
• Figures: You can use numbers as they are an attractive way to talk about something that needs to show data. Suppose how many people have got the best solutions to improve their mental health using journal writing . For example, you can say there are more than 2 million people who have benefited from using it.
• Voices: you can quote by highlighting them. Suppose you are writing a new story after explaining the entire happening; you can also quote who said what about that happening. When you quote someone, it works like evidence to support your idea.

The top reasons discussed above may have cleared your doubts about using supportive details for the ideas you will be talking about. As we have discussed above, it will help you come up with a compelling piece of your writing, whether it is for your college or school essay or writing as an individual.

Supporting Detail Example

The example discussed below will help you get a clear understanding of using the information to support an idea when writing an essay for any purpose.

Prayer journals are one of the top ways to start a conversation with God Almighty. > (Ideas)

Supporting Details>> Journal writing for prayers helps you get a record of your conversation with God, where you can discuss all your things without any hesitation, be grateful for the things you have, your belief in God will increase more, you become more comfortable by releasing your stress when discussing everything with God.

However, it has assisted people with their health improvement as they leave everything to God by dying in themselves and living in God. Till now, thousands of people have benefited from this practice of journal writing.

Wrapping Up

Supporting details for essay writing assists a student or individuals in completing their assigned tasks with all the details, which endorse a reader to understand the context easily, get proof about the idea one is talking about, get a clear picture by having a complete thought in a written task of yours.

The details we have above will help you a lot and provide you with complete information on how you can use supporting details in your essay to endorse your idea for a particular thing.

Posted on 12th June 2019

Writing Strong Supporting Details

By Cite This For Me

There’s a reason the film industry acknowledges great supporting actresses and actors, and not just the stars of the show. Without the supporting cast, the film wouldn’t be possible. Instead, it would be flat, filled with plot holes, and missing dialogue that advances the script. A composition is a lot like a film: It has a clear beginning, middle, and end and tells a story about the main character or a specific topic. Like a film, written compositions need support. These are called supporting details.

What are supporting details?

Supporting details are facts, examples, definitions or descriptions that back up a claim that’s typically made in the topic sentence. They’re arguably one of the most critical components of any composition, expanding on a writer’s point-of-view while also providing structure to the work. Supporting details don’t have to be objective facts or statistics. Quotes from respected or relevant sources or personal experiences can be just as effective when used appropriately.

Supporting details play a part in spoken communication, and are even used when sharing a simple opinion. For example, when you’re trying to let a friend know that the restaurant you visited is the best restaurant you’ve ever been to, you don’t just “leave it at that.” Maybe you mention objective details, like the fact that the chef has worked at world-renowned establishments, or that she’s been awarded a Michelin Star. You could also quote a reputable food critic, or share something from your own experience.

Creating essential supporting details

Let’s see what supporting details look like in practice, using the sample paragraphs below.

Homeowners can save money by switching to a renewable energy source. According to the 2017 [Example Study], an average family in the U.S. saves over [$X] annually by switching from non-renewable energy sources to solar panels. Savings can vary by state, but one thing is clear: nearly [X%] of the homeowners surveyed reported a smaller monthly energy bill. Renewable energy sources can also help eco-conscious families reduce their carbon footprint. “We’re always trying to find ways to protect our planet. Switching to a renewable energy source is the most significant change we’ve ever made,” said homeowner Jane Doe, who switched to solar panels in 2014. Switching to solar panels can reduce the average family’s carbon footprint by up to [X%], according to [Example Newspaper].

The main idea of the first paragraph is “homeowners can save money by switching to a renewable energy source.” This idea is backed up by supporting details: the figures from the Example Study (“saves over $X…,”, and “X% of participants…”). The source has been cited, so the audience can confirm the information.

The main idea of the second paragraph is “Renewable energy sources can also help eco-conscious families reduce their carbon footprint.” The first supporting detail is a testimonial. Jane Doe’s opinion supports the writer’s point-of-view, while providing a welcome break from facts and figures. The following sentence further supports the main idea with a concrete, objective statistics.

Supporting Details Checklist

Your composition should include:

• Supporting details that are relevant to your main idea.
• Reliable sources that are appropriately cited.
• At least two supporting details per main idea.
• More than one kind of supporting detail: facts, statistics, testimonials, examples.

Use Cite This For Me citing resources to help ensure your supporting details are cited appropriately. Check out our Harvard referencing guide , forms for MLA citations , an APA citation generator , and other citing help.

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• The Power of Supporting Sentences: Building Strong Arguments

Introduction

Supporting sentences are the unsung heroes of effective communication. While they may only sometimes take center stage in our writing and speaking, they are pivotal in conveying information, persuading audiences, and creating well-structured and coherent content. In this article, we will delve into the significance of supporting sentences, explore their various types, and discuss practical tips for using them effectively in different contexts.

Understanding Supporting Sentences

Supporting sentences, also known as detail or evidence, are the backbone of written or spoken communication. They serve the essential purpose of providing evidence, examples, or elaboration to support the main idea or thesis statement. Essentially, they are the glue that holds a paragraph or an argument together, making the content more convincing, informative, and engaging.

Types of Supporting Sentences

• Examples:  One of the most common types of supporting sentences involves providing examples that illustrate or clarify the main point. For instance, when explaining a concept, you can use concrete measures to make it more relatable and understandable. These examples add depth to your writing and help readers connect with your ideas.
• Statistics and Data:  Incorporating statistics and data into your supporting sentences can bolster your credibility when making a persuasive argument or discussing factual information. Numbers, percentages, and facts solidify your claims, making your argument more compelling and trustworthy.
• Analogies:  Analogies are powerful tools for drawing parallels between the unfamiliar and the familiar. Using analogies in supporting sentences can simplify complex ideas and make them accessible to a broader audience. They bridge what your audience knows and what you want them to understand.
• Quotations:  If you’re writing an academic paper, article, or essay, incorporating quotes from experts or reputable sources can lend authority and credibility to your arguments. Quotations serve as external validation of your claims and add depth to your content.
• Personal Stories or Anecdotes:  Sharing personal experiences or anecdotes can be particularly compelling in persuasive writing or when trying to establish an emotional connection with your audience. These stories can make your argument more relatable and emotionally resonant.
• Comparisons and Contrasts:  Comparative supporting sentences help clarify similarities and differences between two or more concepts, ideas, or objects. These sentences are precious when analyzing topics or presenting pros and cons.
• Cause and Effect:  Explaining the cause-and-effect relationship between events or ideas can help readers understand the consequences of specific actions or decisions. This type of supporting sentence is crucial in academic and analytical writing.
• Transitions and Linking Sentences:  Although often overlooked, transition sentences are vital in guiding readers through your content smoothly. They create logical connections between ideas, ensuring your writing flows seamlessly from one point to the next.

The Importance of Effective Supporting Sentences

• Clarity:  Well-crafted supporting sentences clarify your main ideas, making them more understandable to your audience. They prevent ambiguity and ensure that your message is conveyed accurately.
• Credibility:  Supporting sentences provide evidence and authority to your arguments. They show you have researched and can be trusted as a knowledgeable source.
• Engagement:  Engaging supporting sentences captivate your audience’s attention. They make your writing more attractive and keep readers or listeners actively involved in the content.
• Persuasion:  In persuasive writing, supporting sentences are your precise tools. They help convince your audience of your viewpoint by presenting compelling evidence and reasoning.
• Coherence:  Supporting sentences create a logical structure in your content, ensuring your ideas are connected and presented coherently. This coherence makes it easier for readers to follow your train of thought.

Tips for Using Supporting Sentences Effectively

• Stay focused:  Each supporting sentence should directly relate to the main idea or thesis statement. Avoid introducing irrelevant information that can confuse your audience.
• Vary sentence types:  Use a mix of supporting sentences to keep your writing engaging and address various aspects of your topic.
• Provide adequate evidence:  Ensure your supporting sentences offer enough evidence to support your claims. Avoid being too vague or overly general.
• Use transitions:  Employ transitional words and phrases to connect your supporting sentences and create a smooth flow between ideas.
• Balance quantity and quality:  While including enough supporting sentences to build a robust argument is essential, keep your writing manageable with details. Quality should always trump quantity.
• Revise and edit:  After writing, review your work to ensure that your supporting sentences effectively enhance your main ideas. Eliminate any redundancy or unnecessary repetition.

While often associated with formal writing and structured arguments, supporting sentences are also valuable in daily life for effective communication. Here are some common scenarios and contexts where you can use supporting sentences:

• Explaining Instructions or Processes:  When giving someone directions or describing how to do something, you can use supporting sentences to provide step-by-step guidance and offer additional details. For example, provide supporting sentences for each cooking step when teaching someone to cook a new recipe.
• “First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This ensures that the dish bakes evenly. Then, grease the baking pan to prevent sticking.”
• Sharing Personal Stories: When sharing anecdotes or personal experiences in conversations, using supporting sentences can make your story more engaging and relatable. Adding details and context helps others connect with your narrative.
• “Last summer, during our family vacation, we decided to go camping in the mountains. It was such an adventure! One night, we heard rustling outside the tent, and my heart started pounding.”
• Making Persuasive Arguments: In everyday discussions or debates, you can employ supporting sentences to strengthen your arguments or opinions. Presenting evidence, examples, or data can make your point more convincing.
• “We should invest in renewable energy sources. Studies show that renewable energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions, crucial for combatting climate change.”
• Offering Recommendations or Advice: Using supporting sentences can help justify your recommendations when giving advice or suggesting solutions. Providing reasons or evidence can instill confidence in your suggestions.
• “If you’re looking for a reliable smartphone, I’d recommend the latest model from XYZ brand. It’s received positive reviews for its long battery life, excellent camera, and user-friendly interface.”
• Discussing Current Events: When discussing news or current events, supporting sentences can provide context and detail to help others better understand the situation. You can use statistics, facts, or historical information.
• “The economic downturn in the last decade, as evidenced by the double-digit unemployment rate, has had a lasting impact on our region’s job market.”
• Resolving Conflicts or Disagreements: Using supporting sentences can help you articulate your point of view more clearly and calmly in interpersonal conflicts or disagreements. Presenting facts and reasons can lead to a more productive discussion.
• “Our team would benefit from a different project management approach. Our current method has resulted in missed deadlines, and adopting a more structured approach could address this issue.”
• Expressing Gratitude or Appreciation: When thanking someone or expressing appreciation, providing specific examples in supporting sentences can convey the depth of your gratitude.
• “I wanted to express my heartfelt thanks for your support during my recovery. Your visits to the hospital, helping with household chores, and the thoughtful gifts meant the world to me.”
• Educational Conversations: While helping children or peers learn new concepts, supporting sentences can simplify complex ideas. Using examples or analogies can make the subject matter more accessible.
• “Think of photosynthesis as a plant’s way of making food. Like how we eat to get energy, plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create their energy through photosynthesis.”

In daily life, supporting sentences can enhance your communication skills by making your messages more transparent, persuasive, and engaging whether explaining, persuading, or sharing stories, using supporting sentences effectively can help you connect with others and convey your ideas more effectively.

Here’s a table example illustrating different types of supporting sentences, along with model sentences for each class:

These example sentences illustrate how supporting sentences of various types can be used to enhance and reinforce the main ideas in different contexts.

Supporting sentences are the unsung heroes of effective communication. They provide the backbone for your arguments, clarify your ideas, and engage your audience. Whether writing an academic paper, a persuasive essay, a business proposal, or even a casual blog post, mastering the art of crafting compelling supporting sentences is essential for effective communication. By understanding their types, importance, and how to use them effectively, you can become a more persuasive and engaging communicator, making your writing and speaking more impactful and memorable.

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Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, check relevance of supporting details, how are supporting details used.

When a writer makes a claim, the position should be backed with supporting details and examples. These details supply evidence that defends the validity of the claim, and they should be relevant, credible, and verifiable.

Why is it important to relate supporting details directly to the thesis or topic sentence?

In an academic paper, the claim and main ideas stated in the thesis and topic sentences require further explanation and support. The major components of a paper—the thesis, the topic sentences, and the supporting details—should work together to create a strong and stable essay. The thesis should be supported by each paragraph, and each paragraph’s topic sentence should be supported with relevant details and examples. If one of those components fails to do its job, the foundation of the paper is compromised and the argument is weakened.

Without relevant supporting details, the paper may lack cohesiveness and credibility. The reader may be unable to follow the progression of the argument and remain unconvinced that the claim or ideas have a credible foundation. To maintain the credibility of the author and the paper, include details and examples that clearly correspond to the claim and main ideas. It may be helpful to list some of these potential supporting details and select the most relevant before writing.

Let’s look at an example:

Claim: A stay-at-home parent performs a number of important tasks that others are paid to do.

Relevant supporting details: This list should include jobs that others are commonly paid to perform. These items on the following list could be considered relevant to the claim and could be verified by many stay-at-home parents and by reliable research:

• nanny : children are cared for
• chauffer: children may be transported to school and a variety of activities
• tutor : assistance with homework and projects may be provided
• manager: a wide variety of household tasks are organized and performed
• chef: meals are planned and prepared
• accountant: finances are managed

Irrelevant details : These ideas would not be appropriate to support the writer’s claim, because these activities are not usually performed by paid workers and would be considered irrelevant to the claim.

• coach : youth sports are often coached by the parent of one of the team members
• volunteer: parents may do volunteer work at their child’s school
• scout leader: boy scout and girl scout troops are usually led by a parent volunteer

Brevity – Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence – How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow – How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity – Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style – The DNA of Powerful Writing

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• Supporting Paragraphs

"A paragraph is a sentence or group of sentences that develops a main idea. Paragraphs serve as the primary building blocks of essays, reports, memos, and other forms of written composition" (Hult and Huckin, The New Century Handbook , 103).

In essence, paragraphs control the design and structure of the written composition. Paragraphs in the middle of your composition develop the thesis statement and provide transition ideas between supporting details.

Paragraphs should be " unified, coherent, and adequately developed , while flowing from one to the next as smoothly as possible" (Hult and Huckin, The New Century Handbook , 103).

Rule to Remember

Make sure all your paragraphs are unified, coherent, and adequately developed.

"A unified paragraph focuses on and develops a single main idea . This idea is typically captured in a single sentence, called a topic sentence . The other sentences in the paragraph, the supporting sentences , should elaborate on the topic sentence in a logical fashion (Hult and Huckin, The New Century Handbook , 104).

The supporting sentences, also called the body of the paragraph , are used to support, explain, illustrate, or provide evidence for the idea expressed in the topic sentence.

The main characteristics of a well-written paragraph

Introduce a topic sentence in your paragraph and then let the rest of the sentences build details to support it.

A paragraph should not introduce any other evidence or provide information that does not support the main idea; otherwise, the paragraph will lack unity and coherence.

Find logical subdivisions in your argument and organize them into unified paragraphs.

It is common to start a paragraph with a topic sentence and then let the rest of the sentences build details to support it. However, this is not by any means the only or the best pattern. The topic sentence can appear in any part of the paragraph or sometimes it can be implied.

Topic sentences at the beginning of a paragraph

In the following two paragraphs, the topic sentence appears at the beginning:

The environment the teacher creates in the classroom plays one of the most crucial roles in successful learning . This is true of any setting, whether the teaching occurs in a long academic program or in a tutoring situation. The teacher is a role model, a person students can trust, a guide, and a mentor. It is the responsibility of the teacher to create a low-anxiety environment in order to allow the students to enjoy the learning process. A good teacher tries to find out what works best with a particular learner or a group of learners and goes from there. What needs to come first in any learning situation is not a specific aspect or principle of methodology but the learners themselves.

From a Teaching Practicum Reflection Paper

Online education has become more popular than other forms of distance education because it offers learners a great deal of flexibility . Students have the freedom to work at their own pace, time, and chosen location. The flexibility of online learning makes it a very powerful tool that enhances learning, provides motivation for self-directed study, and, at the same time, increases convenience for learners with effective use of place and time. Online education is an excellent solution for those who consider learning to be a lifelong process. For adult learners, it provides the possibility to manage work, family, and other activities while still being able to take classes.

From a student research paper on Advantages and Limitations of Web-Based Instruction

"A topic sentence should, if possible, do four things: (1) provide a transition from a the preceding paragraph, (2) introduce the topic of the paragraph, (3) make a main point about this topic, and (4) suggest how the rest of the paragraph will develop this point" (Hult and Huckin, The New Century Handbook , 104).

Suggestions for writing paragraphs

• Avoid paragraphs that are either too long or too short
• Develop a single idea in a paragraph
• Use different patterns of paragraph development (narration, description, definition, example, comparison and contrast, analogy, cause and effect, or process)
• Provide transitions between paragraphs to make your writing flow smoothly (refer to the section on Transitions )

Audience also affects the choice of language, vocabulary, and sentence structures.

Reasons to start a new paragraph

• Introduce a new idea
• Emphasize an idea
• Introduce a logical pause
• Introduce a subtopic
• Conclude the composition

(Lunsford, The Everyday Writer , 48)

• Punctuation
• Reading the Assignment
• Addressing the Audience
• Introduction
• Thesis Statement
• Transitions
• Revision Process

Single Controlling Idea that Ties Back to the Thesis Statement

The first thing a solid body paragraph needs to do is focus on one controlling idea, one that directly ties back to the thesis statement of the paper. While the basic paragraph only requires a controlling idea specific to that paragraph’s content, any body paragraph in an essay must always take into account what the thesis statement (or controlling idea of the essay) is. It must also take into account what role the controlling idea of that specific paragraph will play within its context.

To illustrate, let’s look at an example prompt question:

Based on that prompt, a potential thesis statement could be the following:

This thesis statement only mentions one thing the writer can do to overcome a specific thinking error (that of giving up). The writer suggests paying more attention to the circumstances in which the thinking error tends to occur. This means that the writer will only need one body paragraph to explain this step he or she intends to take. In other words, since the thesis statement, or controlling idea of the whole essay, only has one idea in it, the essay only needs one body paragraph to discuss that one idea.

Not all essay prompts are that simple though. In the future, it is very likely that you will be asked a prompt question that will require you to share two or even three ideas instead of just the one. This would mean you would need more than one body paragraph to answer the prompt question. Look at the following example:

Ponder and Record

How might the controlling idea of this body paragraph (or even the number of body paragraphs) be different if the thesis statement were the following instead:

Three things I could do to overcome the thinking error of giving up would be to pay more attention to the conditions in which the thinking error tends to occur, act to immediately change my physical and mental state so I can stop the thinking error, and then consistently reflect and evaluate how successful I was in stopping the thinking error.

• How many controlling ideas are outlined in this thesis example?
• How many body paragraphs would this essay need since each body paragraph should contain no more than one controlling idea?

In the Ponder and Record exercise above, you probably deduced that the thesis statement outlines three controlling ideas. They are the following:

• Pay more attention to the conditions in which the thinking error occurs.
• Act immediately to change physical and mental state to stop the thinking error.
• Reflect and evaluate how successful efforts to stop the thinking error were.

This means that, according to this thesis, this particular essay would have three body paragraphs—one focused on each of the three controlling ideas.

Moving forward, as you examine your prompt questions and create thesis statements, allow the number of controlling ideas you outline to be your guide. This will help you determine how many body paragraphs you will have and what each of those body paragraphs will focus on.

Topic Sentence

The basic paragraph lessons teach that the purpose of the topic sentence is to indicate what controlling idea that paragraph is going to explore . With the body paragraph, the purpose of the topic sentence is no different.

As mentioned in the section above, the only thing that changes in the body paragraph is the fact that its controlling idea (the idea shared in the topic sentence of that paragraph) must tie back to the thesis statement of the paper. All while still serving its purpose of showing what the controlling idea of that particular paragraph will be.

Let’s return to our example thesis statement to illustrate this idea:

With this as the thesis statement of the introductory paragraph, the topic sentence of the body paragraph might be something like the following:

Notice how the topic sentence strengthens the thesis statement while also creating the controlling idea and supporting details for that body paragraph? It is clear that increased awareness of the conditions in which thinking errors occur will be the controlling idea of this paragraph (as illustrated by the thesis). But it is also clear that this controlling idea will be supported by details centered on the expert testimony (if the first topic sentence example is used) or with personal experience (if the second topic sentence example is used).

• How does the topic sentence above support the thesis while also clearly creating the controlling idea of that specific paragraph?
• How does the topic sentence effectively outline the type of supporting details that will be shared in that body paragraph?

Supporting Detail

You’ll remember from your lessons on the basic paragraph that there are four basic types of supporting details you could use to support the controlling idea of your paragraph:

• Expert testimony
• Personal experiences

The body paragraph is no different. The same types of supporting details will work. Much like with your basic paragraph assignment, your Basic Essay assignment also requires you to use supporting details in your body paragraph that directly support your controlling idea. The only difference is instead of integrating two supporting details, you only need to integrate one. If you are unsure of what that might look like, let’s return to our example topic sentences:

The first topic sentence example (Example 1) indicates that an expert testimony will serve as the supporting detail for the body paragraph. So what might this look like in practice?

• Many experts in the field of psychology have highlighted the importance of not only correctly identifying the thinking errors we suffer from, but also the conditions in which they tend to occur most frequently in our lives. As Dr. John M. Grohol explained in his article “10 Proven Methods for Fixing Cognitive Distortions,” “Much like a judge overseeing a trial, [you] must remove yourself from the emotionality of the episode of irrational thinking in order to examine the evidence more objectively. A thorough examination of an experience allows you to identify the basis for your distorted thoughts.” In other words, before a thinking error can be successfully overcome, it must first be analyzed as objectively as possible so the cause of the thinking error (and the conditions that tend to cause it) can be identified and modified.

The second topic sentence example (Example 2) indicates that a personal experience will serve as the supporting detail for the body paragraph. What might that look like in practice?

• Because one of my thinking errors is a tendency to want to give up and quit, I made the decision to actually keep a record of my thinking patterns over the course of a week. Anytime I had the thought to give up on a task, big or small, I would open up my notebook and write it down. I would describe what I was doing when the thought occurred and how it made me feel. By the end of the week, I realized that a lot of the time, my desire to give up happened during times of stress. In other words, I could handle a lot more (and avoid the thinking error of giving up) when I kept my stress level down. This discovery has helped me realize an important connection that I can now work toward resolving in order to lessen this thinking error’s impact on my life.
• How do the supporting detail examples above support the controlling idea established by the example topic sentence?
• What could your topic sentence and accompanying supporting details be for your own essay?

Don’t forget , if you choose to use a personal experience as a supporting detail, make sure it is based on a specific experience . It is not enough to reflect on a principle as it relates to your life in general.

The Concluding and the Transition Sentence

The final sentence of the body paragraph is the concluding and transition sentence. While similar to the simple concluding sentence of the basic paragraph, the concluding and transition sentence not only serves the purpose of providing closure for the controlling idea shared throughout the paragraph, but also the purpose of transitioning the reader to the next paragraph (whether it be another body paragraph or the concluding paragraph).

In the basic paragraph this sentence should not be a simple restatement of the topic sentence. Rather, it should be a brief summary of how the supporting details shared throughout the paragraph support the controlling idea of that paragraph. The same is true of the concluding and transition sentence in the body paragraph with this small addition—this sentence can also serve as a link back to the thesis statement (the controlling idea of the essay) as well.

Let’s return to our example to illustrate. Based on all of the example sentences shared in this lesson so far, the body paragraph for this particular essay prompt (with its topic sentence and supporting detail) might look like the following:

Based on the paragraph above, a possible concluding and transition sentence might be the following:

Notice how this sentence provides a sense of completion in terms of the controlling idea and supporting details shared throughout the paragraph? Do you also see how the sentence transitions the reader from the controlling idea of that paragraph back to the controlling idea—or thesis statement—of the entire essay?

• How could you avoid making your concluding and transition sentence a simple restatement of your topic sentence?
• What might your own concluding and transition sentence be based on the topic sentence and supporting details you plan to share?

Need More Help?

• Study other Writing Lessons in the Resource Center.
• Visit the Online Tutoring Resources in the Resource Center.
• Contact your Instructor.
• If you still need help, Schedule a Tutor .

Major and Minor Supporting Details

LESSON When you read an article A non-fiction, often informative writing that forms a part of a publication, such as a magazine or newspaper. or any other type of reading A piece of writing to be read. A reading can either be a full work (i.e., a book) or partial (i.e., a passage). , you will notice that in addition to having a thesis statement A brief statement that identifies a writer's thoughts, opinions, or conclusions about a topic. Thesis statements bring unity to a piece of writing, giving it a focus and a purpose. You can use three questions to help form a thesis statement: What is my topic? What am I trying to say about that topic? Why is this important to me or my reader? , the document will also have points that support that thesis An overall argument, idea, or belief that a writer uses as the basis for a work. . The thesis provides the author A person who wrote a text. 's topic The subject of a reading. and purpose The reason the writer is writing about a topic. It is what the writer wants the reader to know, feel, or do after reading the work. for writing. The supporting details Statements within a reading that tie directly to major details that support the main idea. These can be provided in examples, statistics, anecdotes, definitions, descriptions, or comparisons within the work. help the author make that topic and purpose clear to the reader.

The supporting details of a reading can be divided into major supporting details Statements within a reading that tie directly to the work's main idea. These can be provided in examples, statistics, anecdotes, definitions, descriptions, or comparisons within the work. and minor supporting details Smaller statements within a reading that tie directly to major details. , and they are found in the supporting paragraphs A selection of a writing that is made up of sentences formed around one main point. Paragraphs are set apart by a new line and sometimes indentation. , or body paragraphs The part of an essay that comes after the introduction and before the conclusion. Body paragraphs lay out the main ideas of an argument and provide the support for the thesis. All body paragraphs should include these elements: a topic sentence, major and minor details, and a concluding statement. Each body paragraph should stand on its own but also fit into the context of the entire essay, as well as support the thesis and work with the other supporting paragraphs. , of an article or essay A short piece of writing that focuses on at least one main idea. Some essays are also focused on the author's unique point of view, making them personal or autobiographical, while others are focused on a particular literary, scientific, or political subject. . Distinguishing between major and minor supporting details will help you break down the paragraphs in a reading, making it easier to understand. In this lesson, you will learn how to identify both major and minor supporting details in a reading.

When looking at a full reading such as an article or essay, the major and minor details relate to the thesis statement like this:

• Major supporting details: topic sentences A sentence that contains the controlling idea for an entire paragraph and is typically the first sentence of the paragraph. in each body paragraph that support the thesis statement.
• Minor supporting details: sentences that support the major supporting details.

When reading a longer essay, the thesis is included in an introductory paragraph The first paragraph of an essay. It must engage the reader, set the tone, provide background information, and present the thesis. and the major supporting details become topic sentences for distinct supporting paragraphs.

However, if the essay is only one paragraph long, the thesis becomes a topic sentence. When looking at an individual paragraph, the major and minor details relate to the topic sentence like this:

• Major supporting details: support the topic sentence.
• Minor supporting details: support the major supporting details.

Let's look at an example.

Sample essay thesis: Students should consider many variables when choosing classes.

Major supporting details:

• Time of day
• Whether it is required or not
• How much reading/writing may be involved

Minor supporting details:

• Time of day: You can choose classes that meet early in the morning, mid-morning, early afternoon, mid-afternoon, early evening, or evening.
• Whether it is required or not: You may not want to take classes that do not qualify as credit toward your degree.
• How much reading/writing may be involved: You may not want to take several classes at the same time that will involve a lot of reading, such as novels, or that require writing multiple papers.

Knowing how to find a thesis statement, major supporting details, and minor supporting details will help you in all of your communication. When you can find these items, you will see how they play a large part in how a document, speech, or advertisement is organized; as a result, they will help you better organize the documents you write. For example, when writing papers An academic essay that usually includes research and citations. in school, you will need to plan your paper and organize the ideas so they support your thesis. As a professional in your career, the same principle applies. Every audience wants to read a document that is well organized and written so that the major and minor details clearly support the thesis.

For this example paragraph and its topic sentence, notice how the major and minor supporting details support the topic sentence.

Steps to Positivity in the Classroom Success in college depends on many things, but one of the most important is having a positive attitude. There are many ways to develop a positive outlook. You can try using encouraging self-talk to motivate yourself. For example, if you tell yourself that you are smart and can be successful, you are more likely to do well in your classes. Helping others to be successful is also a way of maintaining a positive attitude. When you see that college is not a competition, you will see success come to you and those who work closely with you. Finally, you can develop a positive attitude by viewing difficult situations as opportunities to grow. For example, if you are struggling in a class because the material is challenging, don't let yourself feel down about it. Instead, take action! Visit with your professor or form a study group. Getting help will enable you to learn the material and therefore do better in your class. By using encouraging self-talk, helping others, and utilizing difficult moments as an opportunity to grow, you will have the optimistic outlook that will enable you to succeed in college—and in life!

Topic Sentence: Success in college depends on many things, but one of the most important is having a positive attitude.

• Using encouraging self-talk
• Helping others to be successful
• Viewing difficult situations as an opportunity to grow
• Using self-talk: tell yourself you are smart.
• Helping others be successful: don't see college as a competition.
• Viewing difficult situations as an opportunity to grow: visit a professor or form a study group.

For this exercise, review the following paragraph and its topic sentence, and then identify the major supporting details and minor supporting details.

The Benefits of Forming a Study Group Forming a study group is a great way to improve your grades and make friends. Studying with others helps you review what you know about the course content, allows you to re-teach the content to your group members, and lets you work with others to determine what the instructor wants you to know. All of these items reinforce your classroom experience and your knowledge of the material. Forming a study group is also a great way to make friends on campus. Often when people are new to a college setting they don’t know many people. Study groups can help you make new friends by using your common interest in the course to bring you together. That can make it much less scary to approach others about getting together.

Topic Sentence:

Forming a study group is a great way to improve your grades and make friends.

What are the major supporting details?

Sample Answer

• It can improve your grades.
• You can make new friends.

What are the minor supporting details?

• It can improve your grades because you will review what you know, re-teach the material to your group, and work together to determine what the instructor wants you to know.
• You can make new friends by using the class content as your common ground.

When finding a reading's major and minor supporting details, what should you do or look for first?

How does knowing how to find major and minor supporting details in a reading help you as a writer?

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How to Structure an Essay

Essay writing is a fundamental skill, a basic task, that is expected of those who choose to pursue their undergraduate and master’s degrees. It constitutes a key requirement for students to complete a given course credit. However, many students and early career researchers find themselves struggling with the challenge of organizing their thoughts into a coherent, engaging structure. This article is especially for those who see essay writing as a daunting task and face problems in presenting their work in an impactful way.  

Table of Contents

• Writing an essay: basic elements and some key principles  
• Essay structure template 
• Chronological structure 
• Problem-methods-solutions structure 
• Compare and contrast structures 
• Frequently asked questions on essay structure 

Read on as we delve into the basic elements of essay writing, outline key principles for organizing information, and cover some foundational features of writing essays.  

Writing an essay: basic elements and some key principles

Essays are written in a flowing and continuous pattern but with a structure of its own. An introduction, body and conclusion are integral to it. The key is to balance the amount and kind of information to be presented in each part. Various disciplines may have their own conventions or guidelines on the information to be provided in the introduction.  

A clear articulation of the context and background of the study is important, as is the definition of key terms and an outline of specific models or theories used. Readers also need to know the significance of the study and its implications for further research. Most importantly, the thesis or the main proposition should be clearly presented.  

The body of the essay is therefore organized into paragraphs that hold the main ideas and arguments and is presented and analyzed in a logical manner. Ideally, each paragraph of the body focuses on one main point or a distinct topic and must be supported by evidence and analysis. The concluding paragraph should bring back to the reader the key arguments, its significance and food for thought. It is best not to re-state all the points of the essay or introduce a new concept here. 

In other words, certain general guidelines help structure the information in the essay. The information must flow logically with the context or the background information presented in the introductory part of the essay. The arguments are built organically where each paragraph in the body of the essay deals with a different point, yet closely linked to the para preceding and following it. Importantly, when writing essays, early career researchers must be careful in ensuring that each piece of information relates to the main thesis and is a building block to the arguments. 

Essay structure template

• Introduction 
• Provide the context and share significance of the study 
• Clearly articulate the thesis statement 
• Body  
• Paragraph 1 consisting of the first main point, followed by supporting evidence and an analysis of the findings. Transitional words and phrases can be used to move to the next main point. 
• There can be as many paragraphs with the above-mentioned elements as there are points and arguments to support your thesis. 
• Conclusion  
• Bring in key ideas and discuss their significance and relevance 
• Call for action 
• References 

Essay structures

The structure of an essay can be determined by the kind of essay that is required.  

Chronological structure

Also known as the cause-and-effect approach, this is a straightforward way to structure an essay. In such essays, events are discussed sequentially, as they occurred from the earliest to the latest. A chronological structure is useful for discussing a series of events or processes such as historical analyses or narratives of events. The introduction should have the topic sentence. The body of the essay should follow a chorological progression with each para discussing a major aspect of that event with supporting evidence. It ends with a summarizing of the results of the events.  

Problem-methods-solutions structure

Where the essay focuses on a specific problem, the problem-methods-solutions structure can be used to organize the essay. This structure is ideal for essays that address complex issues. It starts with presenting the problem, the context, and thesis statement as introduction to the essay. The major part of the discussion which forms the body of the essay focuses on stating the problem and its significance, the author’s approach or methods adopted to address the problem along with its relevance, and accordingly proposing solution(s) to the identified problem. The concluding part offers a recap of the research problem, methods, and proposed solutions, emphasizing their significance and potential impact. 

Compare and contrast structures

This structure of essay writing is ideally used when two or more key subjects require a comparison of ideas, theories, or phenomena. The three crucial elements, introduction, body, and conclusion, remain the same. The introduction presents the context and the thesis statement. The body of the essay seeks to focus on and highlight differences between the subjects, supported by evidence and analysis. The conclusion is used to summarize the key points of comparison and contrast, offering insights into the significance of the analysis.  

Depending on how the subjects will be discussed, the body of the essay can be organized according to the block method or the alternating method. In the block method, one para discusses one subject and the next para the other subject. In the alternative method, both subjects are discussed in one para based on a particular topic or issue followed by the next para on another issue and so on.  

Frequently asked questions on essay structure

An essay structure serves as a framework for presenting ideas coherently and logically. It comprises three crucial elements: an introduction that communicates the context, topic, and thesis statement; the body focusing on the main points and arguments supported with appropriate evidence followed by its analysis; and a conclusion that ties together the main points and its importance .  

An essay structure well-defined essay structure enhances clarity, coherence, and readability, and is crucial for organizing ideas and arguments to effectively communicate key aspects of a chosen topic. It allows readers to better understand arguments presented and demonstrates the author’s ability to organize and present information systematically. 

Yes, while expert recommend following an essay structure, early career researchers may choose how best to adapt standard essay structures to communicate and share their research in an impactful and engaging way. However, do keep in mind that deviating too far from established structures can hinder comprehension and weaken the overall effectiveness of the essay,  By understanding the basic elements of essay writing and employing appropriate structures such as chronological, problem-methods-solutions, or compare and contrast, researchers can effectively organize their ideas and communicate their findings with clarity and precision. 

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Where Do Supporting Details Appear in an Essay?

Supporting material plays an important role in strengthening the points and arguments presented in the essay. Evidence, examples, and explanations are provided to support the author's claims. But where exactly does this supporting information appear in the story?

Body paragraphs: A key place to support detail in a story is in the body paragraphs. Typically, each body paragraph focuses on one of the main issues or arguments raised in the topic essay. These paragraphs use supporting information to elaborate and expand on the main idea.

Topic sentences: Supporting information is usually found in the body paragraph topic sentence or sentence. The topic sentence introduces the main point or argument of the paragraph, followed by clarifying it with supporting information that provides evidence or examples that support this main idea

Throughout the paragraph: The entire body paragraph should be interspersed with supporting material, allowing balance and cohesion of the evidence. It may appear as quotes, statistics, anecdotes, expert opinions, or other relevant information that bolsters the author’s argument.

Includes transitions and sentence links: Besides appearing in the body paragraph itself, supporting information can also be linked through transitions or connecting sentences These transitions help move the reader from supporting information to another, creating coherence and flow in the narrative.

Conclusion: Although the main focus of the supporting material is in the body paragraphs, it also appears at the end of the essay. In the end, the supporting material can be summarized or restated to bolster the overall argument and give the reader a lasting impression.

By strategically incorporating supporting information into the body paragraphs and effectively integrating them into the narrative structure, students can increase the clarity, coherence, and persuasiveness of their writing. Remember to provide enough evidence and examples to support any main point or argument, to ensure that your argument is well-supported and well-established.

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Biden’s Strategy: Help Immigrants in the U.S., but Stop Others From Arriving

President Biden’s recent actions on immigration put his approach to one of the most divisive issues in the 2024 election into focus.

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By Zolan Kanno-Youngs

Zolan Kanno-Youngs has covered immigration policy and politics during both the Trump and Biden administrations. He reported from Washington.

There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the United States who have been living in the country illegally for years, working and making a living, starting families and sending their children to school. President Biden says they can stay.

And then there are the more recent arrivals, who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers, seeking protection from poverty and persecution. They will have to wait.

Mr. Biden has taken two major actions on immigration this month, expanding legal protections for undocumented spouses of American citizens while also sealing the border to most people seeking asylum in the United States.

Taken together, the decisions put Mr. Biden’s approach to one of the most polarizing issues of the 2024 campaign into sharp focus: He will help immigrants who are already here, but try to keep the border shut to those trying to get in.

The strategy, described by one former White House official as a “border-in vs. border-out” approach, is a reflection of the political complexity of immigration, a top concern for voters of both parties in the 2024 presidential campaign. Polls show that American voters see the situation at the southern border as a problem and that more tend to trust former President Donald J. Trump to handle it than trust Mr. Biden .

Democrats hope that Mr. Biden’s actions this month will help neutralize the issue. Matt A. Barreto, a Biden campaign pollster focusing on Latino politics, said Americans draw a distinction between “long term, undocumented immigrants” and “new arrivals.”

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Biden announces new policy shielding undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation

President Joe Biden is taking executive action to protect undocumented spouses of American citizens — a move that would shield about 500,000 immigrants from deportation.

The White House announced the election-year policy Tuesday, framing it as “new action to keep families together.” NBC News reported last week that action protecting the spouses was likely to be announced soon, after urging from immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers and as the president courts Latino voters in crucial battleground states.

The new policy would allow noncitizens who have been in the country for at least 10 years and are married to a U.S. citizen, and their children, to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country.

During a ceremony at the White House, Biden called the steps a "commonsense fix" to a system that is "cumbersome, risky and separates families."

He said the order would go into effect this summer and stressed that it would not benefit people who recently came into the country. Instead, it would help people who are "paying taxes and contributing to our country" and their family members.

“This is the biggest thing since DACA,” said a source familiar with the matter, an immigration advocate.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, announced by then-President Barack Obama in 2012, allowed immigrants who illegally came to the U.S. as children to stay in the country.

Foreshadowing the likely battles to come over the policy, the White House was keen to stress that it has been tough on unlawful border crossings and has worked to dismantle people-smuggling networks.

The president "believes that securing the border is essential," it said in a news release Tuesday outlining the new action.

"He also believes in expanding lawful pathways and keeping families together, and that immigrants who have been in the United States for decades, paying taxes and contributing to their communities, are part of the social fabric of our country," the statement said.

The statement added that the spouses eligible to apply for this have been in the U.S. for 23 years on average.

The program would also make it easier for some undocumented immigrants to get a green card and a path to U.S. citizenship.

Sources also say that the undocumented spouses would be allowed to obtain work permits on a case-by-case basis.

The action includes plans to allow DACA recipients who earned degrees in higher education and are seeking a job in that same field to more quickly receive work visas.

Republicans, including former President Donald Trump , blasted the executive action.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, Trump said that if he's elected in November, Biden’s new immigration policy would be immediately “ripped up and thrown out.”

"It's been a nonstop catastrophe, but one of crooked Joe's most destructive moves yet is the lawless executive action he's taken today," Trump said. "Under this program, a deluge of illegals will be given immediate green cards and put on the fast track to rapid citizenship so they can vote."

The presumptive Republican nominee for president, who has made immigration and border issues a cornerstone of his campaign, said "millions" of immigrants would benefit from the program, a figure that contrasts with a White House estimate that it would impact roughly 500,000 people who are spouses and 50,000 non-citizen children who are under 21 with a non-citizen parent who married an American before they were 18 who may also qualify.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also ripped the administration's announcement, painting it as "granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens" and saying it would "incentivize more illegal immigration and endanger Americans."

The new program is expected to be challenged in court.

Noting the likelihood of lawsuits, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that passing legislation would be "the only action that will fully allow these deserving individuals to put down roots, start families, further their education, and continue contributing to our society without fear of deportation." But he also acknowledged that getting a bill through Congress would be unlikely given Republican opposition to previous immigration overhauls.

Gabe Gutierrez is a senior White House correspondent for NBC News.

Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.

Julia Ainsley is the homeland security correspondent for NBC News and covers the Department of Homeland Security for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

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Election latest: Another Tory under investigation over election bets - as Labour to return £100,000 in donations

A former Tory candidate who was dropped for betting on the date of the election has vowed to clear his name, as the Labour Party and more police officers also become embroiled in the escalating scandal.

Tuesday 25 June 2024 23:00, UK

• General Election 2024

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Election betting scandal

• Labour candidate suspended | Party to return donations
• Welsh Conservative under investigation
• Dropped Tory candidate vows to 'clear name'
• More police officers accused of betting on election date
• Jon Craig: This has exposed quite a sleazy side of politics
• Live reporting by Faith Ridler and (earlier)  Tim Baker
• Car crash outside PM's country house
• Four arrested in grounds of Sunak's constituency home
• Reform drops in new poll after Farage's Putin comments
• Starmer says children 'worried' about possible move into No 10

Election essentials

• Manifesto pledges: Alliance | Conservatives | DUP | Greens | Labour | Lib Dems | Plaid | Reform | SNP | Sinn Fein | Workers
• Trackers:  Who's leading polls? | Is PM keeping promises?
• Campaign Heritage: Memorable moments from elections gone by
• Follow Sky's politics podcasts: Electoral Dysfunction | Politics At Jack And Sam's
• Read more:  Who is standing down? | Key seats to watch | What counts as voter ID? | Check if your constituency is changing | Guide to election lingo | How to watch election on Sky News

We'll be back at 6am with all the latest from the general election campaign.

There are just eight days of campaigning left until the polls open on 4 July, and political parties from across the House of Commons are busy trying to win your votes.

Join us from the morning for more live updates.

After days of furore directed at Rishi Sunak for the election betting scandal, now a Labour candidate is under investigation by the Gambling Commission for his own betting activity - and is immediately suspended.

Is this an equaliser in one of the grubbiest electoral sagas of recent elections? Quite possibly not.

There is no doubting the utter dismay in Labour HQ at the revelation that they too have a candidate caught up in the betting scandal.

It lends itself to the easy narrative that there's a plague on all politicians' houses - everyone as bad as each other.

However, if the facts are as presented, the scale of the challenge for the Tories is of a different order of magnitude to that now facing Labour.

Labour's Kevin Craig was  suspended immediately  after the party was informed by the Gambling Commission of the probe.

You can read more from our deputy political editor Sam Coates below:

It's 10pm - here's your late night general election bulletin.

Today has had a heavy focus on the Conservative betting scandal - but there's been plenty more for us to sink our teeth into.

• The Conservatives have announced they will no longer be supporting the two candidates being investigated over placing bets on the election date;
• Laura Saunders and Craig Williams will still appear in on their respective ballots - but won't be supported by the party; 
• Mr Williams has since shared a video statement, claiming he "committed an error of judgement, not an offence" and insisting: "I intend to clear my name" ; 
• And Russell George , a Conservative member of the Senedd, has stepped back from the Welsh shadow cabinet as he faces an investigation over alleged bets;
• In other news, four men have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass in the grounds of the prime minister's home , police have confirmed;
• The arrests are connected to a protest by the Youth Demand campaign group, which has staged a number of actions against both the Conservative government's performance and Labour's proposed policies.
• Labour has suspended a candidate today for betting that he would not win in his seat on 4 July .  Kevin Craig has apologised for the "huge mistake" he made in betting against himself;
• The party, meanwhile, has announced plans to tackle knife crime ;
• Sir Keir appeared at an event with actor Idris Elba as they discussed introducing a long-term strategy to tackle the issue;
• Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has taken part in an hour-long debate with Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverly , taking in both legal and illegal migration;
• The minister said he does not "envisage" a Tory government leaving the European Court of Human Rights, despite the PM's threats to do so;
• And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has opened up about looking after his disabled son in an interview with Beth Rigby .

Don't forget, Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge is back tonight at 7pm.

And if you're heading home from work, you might also be interested in today's Electoral Dysfunction , all about that photo of Sir Keir and his wife enjoying a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley.

The latest episode of the Electoral Dysfunction podcast is out, with Sky political editor Beth Rigby chatting to former Scottish Conservative leader Baroness Ruth Davidson, and ex-Labour adviser Baroness Ayesha Hazarika.

You can listen to the podcast in full below:

👉  Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts  👈

Scotland Secretary Alister Jack has tonight denied breaking any Gambling Commission rules "on any occasion".

It comes after the BBC reported he had told the broadcaster he placed wagers on June and July polling dates.

However, in a statement he said: "I am very clear that I have never, on any occasion, broken any Gambling Commission rules.

"Specifically, I did not place any bets on the date of the general election during May (the period under investigation by the Gambling Commission).

"Furthermore, I am not aware of any family or friends placing bets."

"And for the avoidance of doubt that based on my comment above the Gambling Commission have obviously not contacted me."

Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.

It shows a drop in support in recent days for Labour and the Tories - with a jump for Reform and the Liberal Democrats.

Read more about the tracker here .

There are seemingly three things on the minds of British people at the moment - the Euros, the election, and Taylor Swift.

But while the Royal Family have been quick to send their backing to England's footballers and catch the pop star's Eras shows at Wembley, they'll be keeping their distance from the politics.

That's despite the fact that, apart from the monarch, the royals are technically allowed to vote in UK general elections.

Sky News explains why they don't.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, was also asked about a manifesto commitment to make it a criminal offence for elected politicians to knowingly mislead the public.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson was suspended from parliament for misleading the Commons - does Mr Iorwerth think he should go to prison?

He says legislation to "make it clear there are consequences if you are found to be purposefully deceptive" could be "part of the world of building trust in politicians and politics".

It's noted how difficult it would be to prove someone had purposefully deceived parliament.

Building that trust is a key focus for his party, he says.

"We believe this is important because one of the questions that I've been asked a lot during the course of this election campaign and MPs over the past year, is how do we build trust in politicians?"

That brings our coverage of tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge to an end, but the show returns tomorrow at 7pm. Stick with us for more news and analysis throughout the evening.

Sophy Ridge  asks about a report into Plaid Cymru, published before Rhun ap Iorwerth became leader, which found "a culture of harassment, bullying, and misogyny".

Has he cleaned up the party's act?

"It was a difficult time for us," Mr Iorwerth admits. "We commissioned this report on ourselves. 

"And, you know, there's a suggestion that other political parties may well benefit from doing the same themselves.

"But this was our moment."

Mr Iorwerth adds that Plaid Cymru has been "through a wake-up" and have "ticked off" all 82 recommendations the report made.

Russell George, a Conservative member of the Senedd, has stepped back from the Welsh shadow cabinet as he faces an investigation by the gambling watchdog over alleged bets on the timing of the general election.

Mr George represents Montgomeryshire in the Welsh parliament - the same area that Craig Williams, the Tory candidate who has had party support withdrawn as he faces similar allegations, represented at Westminster.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: "Russell George has informed me that he has received a letter from the Gambling Commission regarding bets on the timing of the general election.

"Russell George has stepped back from the Welsh Conservative shadow cabinet while these investigations are ongoing.

"All other members of the Welsh Conservative Group have confirmed that they have not placed any bets.

"I will not issue further comment on this ongoing process, recognising the Gambling Commission's instruction for confidentiality to protect the integrity of the process."

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