How many supporting details should be in a paragraph

Highlights key terms and ideas. Lacks development. Lacks detail or gives too much detail. Is vague and imprecise. Lacks organization.

Lacks emphasis of key terms and ideas. You want to emphasize a point by setting it apart. You notice that your current paragraph is getting too long more than three-fourths of a page or so , and you think your writers will need a visual break. Some signals that you may want to combine paragraphs include that You notice that some of your paragraphs appear to be short and choppy.

You have multiple paragraphs on the same topic. You have undeveloped material that needs to be united under a clear topic.

Without any solid, clear evidence in one direction or the other, it would be virtually impossible to tell. Now imagine, however, that the other driver caused the accident because he was talking on his cell phone. You could certainly go to court and simply tell the judge that the other driver was distracted and this led to the wreck, but why would the judge believe you? Telling the judge that the driver was, in fact, on his phone would be providing him with essential supporting details.

This is the kind of factual, detailed evidence that explains why you reached the conclusion that you reached, and helps provide a background that proves the veracity of your point. If you turn in a paper that simply states women are paid less and treated differently than male employees, no professor is going to be impressed.

However, suppose you gather data from various statistical studies showing the differences in male versus female salaries. Suppose you interview female employees versus male ones at particular companies and get their personal testimonials about how their treatment has been biased.

This is the power of the right supporting details. Still not sure how to incorporate supporting details into your own work? Consider these supporting details examples. For each main idea listed, there is a sentence that presents the concept along with supporting details. Workplace discrimination is far too common in the United States. 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. What are supporting details in a body paragraph? Let's read:. Chapter 1 Aims. Reader Contents. We're celebrating our new Study Pathways. Understanding the topic , the gist , or the larger conceptual framework of a textbook chapter, an article, a paragraph, a sentence or a passage is a sophisticated reading task.

Being able to draw conclusions, evaluate, and critically interpret articles or chapters is important for overall comprehension in college reading. Textbook chapters, articles, paragraphs, sentences, or passages all have topics and main ideas.

The topic is the broad, general theme or message. It is what some call the subject. The main idea is the "key concept" being expressed. Details , major and minor, support the main idea by telling how, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many. Locating the topic, main idea, and supporting details helps you understand the point s the writer is attempting to express. Identifying the relationship between these will increase your comprehension. A paragraph is a group of sentences related to a particular topic, or central theme.

Every paragraph has a key concept or main idea. The main idea is the most important piece of information the author wants you to know about the concept of that paragraph. When authors write they have an idea in mind that they are trying to get across. This is especially true as authors compose paragraphs. An author organizes each paragraph's main idea and supporting details in support of the topic or central theme, and each paragraph supports the paragraph preceding it.

That main idea may be stated at the beginning of the paragraph, in the middle, or at the end. The sentence in which the main idea is stated is the topic sentence of that paragraph. The topic sentence announces the general theme or portion of the theme to be dealt with in the paragraph.