WRW - Support Lesson

Support

Support is the evidence that writers use from other sources to prove what they are saying is true. In the brainstorming example, if the topic is that Romeo and Juliet differ in how they approach love, the support would need to show what evidence in the text supports this idea. The writer could use the example of how Juliet was resistant to Romeo, but Romeo was immediately obsessed with Juliet. Any information from the novel that will back up, or prove, the main idea is considered support.

Proof and support can stem from both primary and secondary sources. Remember that sources are the various books, essays, and other places a writer finds support for an essay. The primary source is the main work of literature a writer focuses on and uses for an essay.

For example, if writing about the characters in Romeo and Juliet, the primary source would be Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The secondary sources are the various texts about the primary source that a writer uses to find support for an essay. For example, look for books or articles where other people have written about the characters in the novel. However, remember to make sure that the sources are reliable. We will discuss reliable sources in the next lesson.

When including support, or proof, in the essay, make sure that the proof comes interlaced between original thoughts or ideas. A writer always wants the majority of the essay to be his or her words. In order to understand this type of organization, writers might use a writing method called State-Prove-Explain for the body paragraphs. From the brainstorm, we already created a topic sentence and the statements. Now, for the whole body paragraph, we need to add in the "proof" and "explain" portion. The "proof" is simply the information from the text that supports the statement and topic sentence. The "explain" portion reveals how the proof connects with the statement, topic sentence, and thesis. The information in parenthesis after the proof is called the in-text citation. We will discuss this in the final lesson. Below is a sample body paragraph containing the "proof" and "explain" portions of the writing process. 

For Example:

Notice in the above example that the State-Prove-Explain is repeated at least twice. By fully supporting the topic sentence, the writer can know they have a well-developed body paragraph.

Practice

There are many terms used for the writing process. In order to make sure you understand the writing terminology, practice with the terms and their definitions below.

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