Writing Skills
Supporting Your Ideas: Effective Techniques for Developing Supporting Details Part II
Incorporating 7 techniques
Incorporating these techniques into your writing can help you develop effective supporting details that reinforce your main ideas and engage your reader. However, it’s important to use these techniques appropriately and with purpose, to ensure that the supporting details add value and relevance to your writing. Overuse or misuse of these techniques can make the writing confusing or distracting to the reader.
Using statistics & quotations
When developing supporting details, it’s important to consider your audience and the purpose of your writing. For example, if you’re writing an argumentative essay, you might use statistics and quotations to support your claims and persuade the reader. If you’re writing a personal narrative, anecdotes and metaphors may be more effective in engaging the reader and conveying your experiences.
Topic: The benefits of exercise
Supporting details:
-According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), regular physical activity can help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
-The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week for optimal health.
-A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that exercise can help improve cognitive function and reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Using these supporting details, an argumentative essay on the benefits of exercise might look something like this:
Regular exercise has numerous benefits for our physical and mental health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, physical activity can help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week for optimal health. Additionally, research has shown that exercise can improve cognitive function and reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, it is important to make exercise a regular part of our lives in order to enjoy these benefits and improve our overall well-being.
Well-organised and coherent
It’s also important to ensure that your supporting details are well-organised and coherent. They should be directly related to your main idea and arranged in a logical sequence that builds a persuasive argument. To achieve this, it can be helpful to create an outline or a mind map of your ideas before you start writing, to ensure that your supporting details are well-structured and contribute to your overall argument.
Your main point (or thesis statement) might be: Regular exercise has numerous benefits for both physical and mental health.
To organize your supporting details, you could create an outline like this:
I. Introduction
A. Hook
B. Thesis statement
II. Physical benefits of exercise
A. Increased strength and endurance
B. Weight loss
C. Reduced risk of disease
III. Mental benefits of exercise
A. Improved mood and stress relief
B. Increased brain function and memory
C. Boosted self-esteem and confidence
IV. Conclusion
A. Restate thesis
B. Summarize main points
C. Call to action or closing statement
This outline helps to ensure that your supporting details are well-organized and coherent, making it easier for your readers to follow your ideas and understand your argument.