Paragraphs: Support Sentences

One of the trickiest aspect of a writing engaging paragraphs is the support sentence(s). Often times, students repeatedly turn to quotations or banal formulations (such as “For example…”) again when completing the support section. This tends to make their writing sound repetitive and boring.

Paragraphs can vary significantly depending on where they are. For instance, in a literature review, they may be more descriptive than in a discussion section or typical Humanities chapter. Generally speaking, though, paragraphs should have a clear claim (or statement of result) early on in the paragraph, and several sentences (typically 1 to 3 sentences) of support following the claim.

The support sentences can take various forms, as outlined in the table below:

 

 

 Type of Support

1.

Explanation: Reasons to explain the concept or result. May present alternative explanations.

2

Exemplification: Example(s) to illustrate the idea or result.

3

Comparison with Previous Research: comparison of the idea or result with those reported in the literature. There are 3 possibilities:

A. In agreement: others’ results/ideas support the writer’s result/idea.

B. In contrast: others’ results/ideas conflict with the writer’s result/idea.

C. Partial agreement/contrast: others’ results/ideas neither wholly support nor wholly conflict with the writer’s result/idea.

 

Ordering of Support

Within the support section of a paragraph, information order is important. Providing support, or justification, often follows a move from general to specific, and therefore theory to example. This is to say that if your support section has both an explanation of your claim, as well as an exemplification of your claim, it often works best to provide the explanation before the example.

In the examples below, please note how the ordering of support follows the sequence from the table above: