Drafting

When writing body paragraphs, supporting sentences come after the topic sentence (please review the Paragraph Structure and Topic Sentences handouts for more information on topic sentences and their relationship to supporting sentences). Supporting sentences comprise the majority of the body paragraph. These sentences develop and prove the main idea presented in the topic sentence. Remember to clearly link all the supporting sentences to the paragraph’s main idea. This connection will help the reader follow along and strengthen your point. Weak supporting sentences present information that is irrelevant or disconnected from the main idea. These poor supporting sentences can distract readers and weaken the paragraph. Supporting sentences can be divided into two categories: major and minor.

• The major supporting sentence shows how the paragraph’s main idea is true.  
• Minor supporting sentences explain the major supporting sentence by providing additional details and evidence (such as explanations, examples, and citations).

The following example illustrates the use of both major and minor supporting sentences:

Topic Sentence: The federal government should transition to an all-electric vehicle fleet within five years.

• This sentence provides the main idea of the paragraph.

Major supporting sentence: The country will benefit because electric vehicles are energy-efficient and cost-effective long-term.

• This statement demonstrates how the main idea is true by answering the question of why the government “should transition” vehicles to electric.

Minor supporting sentences: Vehicles powered by electricity do not run on oil-based gasoline, which helps decrease dependency on environmentally-harmful fossil fuels. Switching to an electric fleet will require an initial investment, but the savings on gasoline will provide financial benefits for years to come.

• These two sentences explain the major supporting sentence by describing how electric vehicles run, the benefit of this distinction, and the financial implications of transitioning to an electric fleet.

Source consulted: Upswing Writing Lab

Guide created by: C. Jones 2/3/2021

Revised by: E. Raley 4/21/2021

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