Video Guide: Supporting Details Check
Summary
TLDRThis video guide explains the importance of supporting details in a body paragraph. It emphasizes how major and minor details work together to clarify the topic sentence, using the analogy of a hamburger to structure paragraphs. The topic sentence introduces the main idea, while the concluding sentence wraps it up. Examples such as pepper's uses and animal feeding habits illustrate how specific evidence strengthens an argument. The guide also suggests using an outline graph to organize major and minor details, helping writers improve their essays by showing rather than just telling.
Takeaways
- 📝 The topic sentence serves as the main idea or overall point of a paragraph, and the concluding sentence provides closure.
- 🍔 The structure of a paragraph can be compared to a hamburger, with the topic sentence as the top bun, the concluding sentence as the bottom bun, and the supporting details as the filling.
- 🔍 Major details are the main pieces of evidence that support the topic sentence, while minor details further explain these major details.
- 🌶️ A sample paragraph about pepper shows that major details provide key points, and minor details help explain or expand on these points.
- 🗂️ Using an outline graph can help organize a paragraph by identifying the topic sentence, major details, minor details, and concluding sentence.
- 🐠 In the exemplification paragraph example, various animals are used to show how they obtain food in unique ways, with major details introducing each animal and minor details elaborating on their behaviors.
- 📊 The outline graph is a useful tool for checking whether a paragraph contains sufficient major and minor details to fully explain the topic.
- ✍️ Writers should ensure that they are showing rather than just telling, using specific examples and explanations to help readers understand the major details.
- 🎡 When writing about specific examples (e.g., amusement park rides), providing both major details (the ride itself) and minor details (what makes it exciting) helps convey the experience more effectively.
- 🔄 The importance of revising an essay to include additional supporting details ensures that major points are adequately explained and understood by readers.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of a topic sentence in a body paragraph?
-The main purpose of a topic sentence is to introduce the main idea or overall point of the paragraph, giving readers an understanding of what the paragraph will be about.
How does the speaker compare a paragraph structure to a hamburger?
-The speaker compares the topic sentence to the top bun and the concluding sentence to the bottom bun, with the supporting details acting as the filling in between.
What are major supporting details, and how do they function in a paragraph?
-Major supporting details are the main pieces of evidence that support the topic sentence. They provide the core arguments or points that prove the main idea.
How do minor supporting details complement major supporting details?
-Minor supporting details further explain or elaborate on the major supporting details, providing additional context and ensuring readers fully understand the main evidence.
What example does the speaker use to illustrate major and minor supporting details?
-The speaker uses a paragraph about pepper, where the major details include its historical uses for preserving meat, as medicine, and for controlling insects. The minor details elaborate on each of these uses with specific examples.
What is the role of a concluding sentence in a body paragraph?
-A concluding sentence brings closure to the paragraph by summarizing or restating the main idea in different words, often providing a transition to the next paragraph.
How does the speaker suggest using an outline graph for revision?
-The speaker suggests using an outline graph to organize the topic sentence, major details, and minor details in separate columns. This helps check if enough details have been included and ensures the paragraph is well-structured.
Why is it important to provide both major and minor details in a paragraph?
-Providing both major and minor details ensures that the paragraph is well-rounded, with enough evidence to support the topic sentence, and that readers can fully understand the points being made.
What is an example of using minor details to enhance a reader's understanding of a major detail?
-In the example of the deepwater anglerfish, the major detail is that it doesn't go to great lengths for food, and the minor detail explains this by describing its light-equipped spine that lures fish into its mouth.
What strategy does the speaker recommend to check if the paragraph includes sufficient supporting details?
-The speaker recommends reviewing an outline graph after drafting the paragraph to see if major and minor details are included and to identify areas where further explanation might be needed.
Outlines
🍔 Understanding the Structure of a Body Paragraph
This paragraph explains the key components of a body paragraph, comparing it to a hamburger. The topic sentence is the 'top bun,' the concluding sentence is the 'bottom bun,' and the 'meat' represents the supporting details. Major details provide the core evidence, while minor details expand on them to ensure clarity. The paragraph uses an example about the various uses of pepper to illustrate how supporting details build upon the topic sentence and concludes by emphasizing the importance of including both major and minor details for coherence.
🐟 Exemplifying the Use of Major and Minor Details
The paragraph illustrates how to effectively use major and minor details in writing by examining the topic of animals getting food in memorable ways. It outlines several animals, such as the giant robber crab and the deepwater anglerfish, providing major details about each, followed by minor details that help readers understand these animals' unique feeding behaviors. The chameleon and python examples highlight the importance of minor details in fully conveying the major ideas, emphasizing the role of these details in helping readers grasp the subject matter more deeply.
🦁 Concluding with a Strong Sentence and Organizing Revisions
This section discusses the role of a concluding sentence that restates the topic in new words and summarizes the major points discussed in a paragraph. The paragraph also suggests using a graph or outline to visually organize major and minor details for better clarity and revision. Examples, such as the Matterhorn and Magic Mountain rides, illustrate the need for writers to expand on major details with minor details to fully explain their ideas to readers. The paragraph encourages revision by adding specific details where necessary to improve understanding and connection to the main topic.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Topic Sentence
💡Supporting Details
💡Major Details
💡Minor Details
💡Concluding Sentence
💡Hamburger Paragraph
💡Exemplification
💡Outline Graph
💡Paragraph Structure
💡Revision
Highlights
You need to show evidence through specific, concrete details to support your topic sentence.
The topic sentence introduces the main idea, while the concluding sentence brings closure and transitions to the next paragraph.
The topic and concluding sentences can be visualized as the 'top' and 'bottom' of a hamburger, with supporting details in between.
Major details provide the primary pieces of evidence, while minor details explain the major details further.
A sample paragraph about pepper shows its various uses throughout history, such as preserving meat, being used as medicine, and controlling insects.
Minor details give further explanation of major details, such as how pepper was used during the Crusades to preserve sausages.
The structure of a paragraph includes the topic sentence, major supporting details, minor supporting details, and a concluding sentence.
An outline graph can help organize a paragraph, with major and minor details listed visually.
A second example using animals shows how minor details explain major details about how different animals find food.
The deepwater anglerfish lures prey using a light in the darkness of the ocean, while the archerfish shoots water jets at insects.
The chameleon uses its long, sticky tongue to catch insects in an instant.
Pythons and boa snakes are able to stretch their jaws wide enough to swallow large prey like goats or deer.
The concluding sentence of the second example highlights how the surprising methods animals use to capture food reflect the creativity of nature.
Using a graph can help writers visually organize major and minor details before or after drafting a paragraph.
Adding minor supporting details to major points helps readers better understand and visualize your main ideas.
Transcripts
hi this is miss you with a video guide
for the supporting details check
question so it's not enough just to tell
us with a topic sentence you need to
show us with specific concrete evidence
and it helps sometimes to think of it
this way in your body paragraph
you have
your topic sentence which is the main
idea the overall point of the paragraph
you have the concluding sentence which
comes at the end and brings closure and
brings a bridge to the next paragraph
you might think of the topic sentence as
the top of the bun
and the concluding sentence as the
bottom bun
in a hamburger or if you're a vegetarian
may be a delicious roasted mushroom
then inside the supporting details
major and minor are going to show are
going to prove the topic sense
the major details are going to be the
main pieces of evidence that are
provided
the minor details are going to explain
the major details further to ensure
readers fully understand
so let's take a look at a basic sample
paragraph and when i say basic i mean it
could be much more fully developed with
additional detail in fact it could
probably be turned into an entire essay
but for now let's just look at this as a
basic example
the topic sentence throughout history
pepper has had many other uses besides
as a way to season food
that's the topic sentence that's the
overall point of the paragraph
then we have the major details in red
these are going to be the main
supporting details that help readers
understand the topic sentence pepper was
also one of the first ways of preserving
meat
pepper has also been used as a medicine
today pepper is also used to control
insects these are the three major
supporting details
then we have the minor supporting
details which are going to further
explain the major supporting details
so the major detail pepper was also one
of the first ways of preserving meat
the minor detail further explaining that
major detail during the crusades pepper
was used to preserve sausages pepper is
still used to preserve meat today so we
have a couple of minor supporting
details for the first major detail
the second major detail
pepper has also been used as a medicine
we have supporting minor details in
medieval times peppercorns were
prescribed to cure aches and pains
native americans today use pepper to
cure toothaches so again we have a
couple of minor supporting details to
help readers understand the major detail
third the major detail today pepper is
also used to control insects
we have a couple of sentences actually
we have one sentence to help readers
understand this idea for example the
french and the dutch use pepper to kill
moths and to repel other insects so
there we have minor details helping
readers understand the major detail
about pepper controlling insects
then we have the concluding sentence a
repellent a medicine and a preserver
pepper is simply not just a seasoning
this restates the topic sentence using
different words in this case it brings
closure reviewing the different major
details that are discussed
okay so again this is a basic paragraph
you could have
an entire paragraph just about
preserving meat and give lots of details
and the same for medicine and the same
for controlling insects
actually you could have probably
multiple paragraphs dedicated to
preserving need and then preserving
medicine and then preserving insects
however this is a helpful sample of a
basic body paragraph that has a topic
sentence major supporting details and
minor supporting details
a strategy you can use to help you check
out how many details you have
is this outline graph
at the top of the graph you write your
topic sentence such as throughout
history pepper has had many uses besides
as a way to season food
then in one column you have your major
details
pepper
as a way to preserve meat pepper as a
way to to be used as medicine and pepper
and controlling insects those are the
major details then in the second column
you have the minor details about the
crusades and meat today in medieval
times and native americans today and the
french and the dutch
so this lets you know in a visual
representation how many major details
you have and how many minor details you
have and it can help you decide
maybe you need to add some more detail
maybe for example you realize you didn't
have anything about your third major
detail yet it can help you to check and
see are you showing as well as telling
readers about your
ideas and you can have the concluding
sentence at the bottom of the graph
okay
keep in mind your graph doesn't have to
look like this you don't have to use
tables like this one does this is a
sample the idea is with your graph you
put the topic sentence at the top you
have two
lists with major details and minor
details and then you have the concluding
sentence and you can check it all out to
see how well are you organizing are you
including major and minor are you
concluding enough detail to help readers
understand so let's take a look at a
sample exemplification paragraph
and we'll go ahead and look at it in
terms of this outline graph strategy you
can use
so the topic sentence in the outline
graph is at the top many animals get
their food in memorable ways
then the major details from this
paragraph are listed in column one the
giant robber crab the deepwater
anglerfish the archerfish the chameleon
python and boa snakes and rock python
the minor details help readers
understand each of these different
kinds of animals for instance have you
heard of the giant robber crab i hadn't
heard of the giant robber crab until i
read this paragraph did you know about
the archer fish and the anglerfish and
all the others maybe you knew about the
chameleon and you've heard about pythons
so keep in mind you're letting your
readers know about the different
you're letting your readers know about
the different animals maybe you're
informing them for the first time maybe
they're already familiar maybe they know
about the chameleon but they haven't
thought about the chameleon in the same
way that you're going to help them
understand the chameleon in this
paragraph so the minor details are
really going to help your readers
understand what you want them to know
about the major details many animals get
their food in memorable ways this is the
topic sentence
consider for example the giant robber
crab of the pacific islands
this is the first major supporting
detail
if we haven't heard about the giant
rubber crab before and we just leave it
at this
we're going to be like well what about
the giant rubber crab how does this crab
get its food in a memorable way so it's
not enough to just give the major detail
about the robber crab
we need the minor details to help us
understand
so here are some minor details about the
major detail of the robber crab this
crab likes eating coconuts so for a
tasty dessert it will carry one up a
palm tree drop it to the ground to crack
it open and then scoop out the flesh
with a claw
so now we have major details to help us
understand the i'm sorry
so now we have minor details to help us
understand the major detail
let's do the same thing in the second
part
the deepwater anglerfish does not have
to go to such lengths for its food
despite how dark it is in the depths of
the ocean so the deep water to
anglerfish is going to be the second
major detail
it doesn't even have to be a complete
sentence to be a major detail the idea
of the deep water anglerfish can be the
major detail everything else about it
the minor details
does not have to go to such lengths for
its food despite how dark it is in the
depths of the ocean its long spine comes
equipped with a kind of light that lures
fish into its open mouth
okay third we have the archer fish
notice that
the major detail doesn't always come
first in this case we have some minor
detail and then the major detail so the
major detail is the archer fish now
let's see all the minor details about it
closer to the surface of the water it
lives in so that's a minor detail the
archer fish the major detail gets its
food an unusual way it shoots jets of
water at insects on the riverbank okay
so now we know about the archer fish
that it's closer to the surface of the
water and then it gets its food an
unusual way that involves shooting jets
of water and insects on the riverbank
also an insect lover the chameleon is a
sharpshooter that snatches up its insect
prey in a fraction of a second it waits
for an insect to land within range then
it shoots at its long tongue and catches
the unsuspecting bug on the sticky tip
of the tongue
okay so the chameleon in this case is
the major detail everything else here
minor details to help us understand the
chameleon
and again maybe you know about the
chameleon but you didn't know all of
that about the chameleon the minor
details are going to help readers
understand what you as the writer want
your readers to understand about the
major detail
about the major details
post
okay perhaps most remarkable of all are
the python and boa snakes so python and
boa snakes additional major details who
can stretch their jaws so wide that even
okay now i got to warn you this part is
really disgusting and sad to me
okay can stretch their jaws so wide that
even goats can be swallowed whole for
example the rock python holds the goat
or deer in its mouth and coils itself
tightly around the animal so that it
cannot breathe
wow okay the snake may require several
hours to do so but it will manage to
swallow its meal so we've got a lot of
major i'm sorry we've got a lot of minor
details about these major details the
python and bias the python and boa
snakes these snakes
are the major details and then
everything else here
that makes me go uh
these are the minor details without
these details i wouldn't know nearly as
much this really helps me understand how
these snakes get their food in memorable
ways
okay so we can see that all of these
details help to show the topic sentence
that many animals get their food in
memorable ways all of the details are
relevant
and they're provided with both major and
minor details and the topic sentence the
topic sentence matches what's included
then at the very end we have the
concluding sentence clearly the
surprising way some animals capture
their food is a testimony to the
imagination of mother nature so it's
letting us know using different words
about this overall topic sentence idea
again
we have a graph you can use a graph like
this to help you organize and see what
you have and what you need to add
you might use this graph at the very
beginning before you even draft a
paragraph to see what you have in terms
of major and minor details you might
also use the strategy after you've
drafted the paragraphs to check and see
what you have and what you may still
want to add or maybe even put in
different paragraphs please post an
answer to the following based on this
activity what changes if any do you
intend to make as you revise your essay
draft so think about where you may add
further minor supporting details maybe
you mention a major detail you mentioned
an example but you don't explain it yet
one fun example i like to use is if you
were just for practice not we're not
actually doing this again but just for
practice if you're writing an essay
about magic mountain and you
uh your favorite ride there let's say
the x ride okay i believe that's a ride
i've never been to magic mountain the
point is if you just tell me that the x
ride is exciting but you don't give me
any details to help me understand that
i'm not going to know what you're
talking about so you want to give me not
only the major detail of the x-ride but
the minor details what is the x-ride
like
same thing let's say you're writing
about uh disneyland and you're going to
share about the matterhorn
well you may be realizing this now i am
a super chicken and i've never been on
the matterhorn so just mentioning the
matterhorn isn't quite enough i need
some specific details about the
matterhorn to help me understand so
again these sample rides the x ride at
magic mountain the matterhorn at
disneyland these are major details
everything you share about these rides
would be the minor details so consider
your own essay about career development
where are you sharing major details
examples
ideas but maybe you could share some
additional minor details explanations
even more specific examples and details
to help your readers understand
okay
jot down some notes about your plans for
revision related to supporting details
thanks for watching
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