Supporting Details
Supporting details develop a paragraph’s main idea with specific evidence, examples, facts, explanation, analysis, or other relevant material. Strong support is selected for the point being made rather than added as filler.
Supporting details are the specific evidence, examples, facts, explanations, or other information that develop and support a main idea.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
The right kind and amount of support depends on the claim, audience, genre, and assignment; not every paragraph needs the same number or type of details.
Further guidance
Application
Use details that directly develop the paragraph’s controlling idea: examples, facts or data, testimony, explanation, comparison, causes/effects, description, or other relevant evidence.
Core Rule
Supporting details make a main idea specific and persuasive by supplying evidence, explanation, or concrete development rather than merely repeating the topic sentence.
Practical Application
Support each main idea with details that actually develop it—evidence, examples, facts, explanation, or other specific information—and remove details that are interesting but do not support the paragraph’s point.
Reader Check
For each detail, can you state which main idea it supports and how? If not, move it, explain the link, or cut it.
Worked Example
Main idea: “The rollout reduced support delays.” Supporting detail: “Median first-response time fell from 18 hours to 7 hours after the new queue was introduced.”
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Paragraphs and Paragraphing — Purdue OWL (opens in a new tab)Purdue Online Writing Lab · Institutional writing guidance on developing a focused paragraph with evidence, examples, facts, details, analysis, and other support.