Chapter 25: Writing a Paragraph: Focus on Support and Details

In this chapter you will study the importance of being specific in the
details you use to support an idea. When you write in vague, general terms,
you leave the reader to interpret what you mean and often the reader will not
have enough information to accurately do that. You must be clear in your
meaning so that anyone who reads your work understands exactly what you want
him to understand.

It is equally important that you provide enough information to support your
ideas. Generally you need 3 to 5 examples per idea to be sure you've given
sufficient support. The best way to develop support is to ask yourself
questions about your ideas. You can evaluate the support at each stage of the
writing process. Much of the work that you do in the rough lines editing is
evaluating support and asking questions to be sure you have said enough to
clearly communicate your ideas to your audience.

Once you have gathered together as many details as you think you need, you
then organize them with a rough outline. This gives you another opportunity to
check for sufficient support. Does each section of the outline seem developed?
Is there more than one detail for each section? Have you used specific rather
than general words as you've outlined? At this point you double-check the
topic sentence to be sure it covers all your details. Always remember that the
more details you put in the outline the more details will make it into your
paragraph.

If you are at a loss for details, try turning to your senses. Asking
questions about how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, and sounds can
provide you with plenty of details. When you are describing an event ask
questions like who, what, when, where, how, and why. Read the lecture below
for further information on developing support and details for your writing

Chapter 26: Writing from Reading

The first step when you write from what you read is to be sure you
understand what you have read. To ensure your understanding, you should be an
active reader. This means that you should read more than once with a different
purpose each time, you should ask questions before, during, and after you
read, and you should make notes as you read.

Once you have read actively, you will be prepared to write in a number of
different ways. You will be able to summarize what you have read. That means
you are accurately re-telling the author's main ideas in your own words. A
summary also gives the major supporting details the author has used to support
the main ideas. Once again though, summaries are written in YOUR words not the
author's words.

Another method of writing about what you have read is to respond to the
reading. When you respond to a reading, you pick out a particular point or
idea that the author has made and then brainstorm to develop your own ideas
based on the author's thought. Unlike summarizing, you are generating your own
ideas based on the author's original thought.

Rather than generating a new idea, you may also choose to respond to an
idea in the reading. You may agree or disagree with a point the author has
made. In your writing, you will explain why you agree or disagree with that
point. Once again, you are coming up with your own reasoning and your own
wording in response to something you have read.

A particular type of writing you will be required to do is writing answers
to essay tests. Essay test questions often ask you to read material and then
either summarize the material or respond to it in a particular way. The one
thing that makes essay test writing different from other writing situations is
the time limit. In a testing situation you will carefully monitor your use of
time and you won't put all of the polishing touches in that you would if you
had unlimited time to complete the writing.

These are some of the ways you can tie the material that you read to the
material you write. You will find that if you follow the advice given in this
chapter that you will never be at a loss for a topic to write about.