Page 198 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Support: Using Specific Detail

5 Draft a body paragraph with support.

Support is the heart of any piece of writing. Even a grammatically
perfect essay falls flat without strong, specific support. If a thesis or

topic sentence is a promise to the reader to discuss a specific topic,

then an essay without solid support makes that thesis an empty

promise. No matter how good it sounds, there is nothing behind it.

Although few writers deliberately set out to make empty promises,
many do so because providing strong support is one of the most

difficult dimensions of writing body paragraphs. It takes practice,

thought, and the ability to recognize and to construct specific

examples and details.

Why It’s Hard to Be Specific

Quick, what did you eat for lunch yesterday?