(WW) Lesson Topic 4: Steady Support

Lesson Topic 4: Steady Support

In this illustration, a cartoon man with light skin and dark brown hair wears an encyclopedia book as a mascot suit. The costume is red and says "Encyclopoedia" in the British spelling. He has marks of exasperation coming from his face as he answers the questions of the child in the illustration. She is shown from the back. She has blonde hair and is wearing a purple long-sleeved shirt and turquoise overalls with red shoes. Her figure shows cartoon bubbles of question marks--three of them--above her head, like she is asking the encyclopedia man questions.

What is Support?

Support is the evidence that writers use from other sources to prove what they are saying is true. You may also hear people refer to support as proof or quotes. For example, if I wrote an essay about how math tends to be a hard subject for many students, I would have to find proof that backs up what I am writing. I would look for information from a place that I trust to find a sentence supporting my idea. You will do the same thing.

How Will I Use it?

If you write about how nice a character appears in the novel, you would need to go back to the novel and find a sentence that reveals the character doing something nice for another person or a sentence where people discuss the kindness of the character. Any information from the novel that you find to back up, or prove, your idea is considered support.

Where do I Find Support?

Pig on the computerYou will find proof and support 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 you were writing about the characters in our novel, your primary source would be The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. The secondary sources are the various texts about the primary source that a writer uses to find support for an essay. For example, I might look for books or articles where other people have written about the characters in our novel.

Remember that there are rules to finding secondary sources. You never want to search for information on the internet and use the first source that appears without making sure the source is legitimate. You will learn more about reliable sources later in the course. 

Once you have found support and written your essay, each source will be listed at the end of your essay in what we call a Works Cited page. The Works Cited page must be set up in a certain format that you will learn about in the next lesson.

 

 

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