Chapter Eight Developing Supporting Material Chapter Eight Table
Chapter Eight Developing Supporting Material
Chapter Eight Table of Contents z. Examples z. Narratives z. Testimony z. Facts and Statistics
Developing Supporting Material z. Supporting materials perform three functions: y. Illustrate/clarify points y. Elaborate on an idea y. Prove something is correct
Examples z. Examples illustrate, describe, or represent things, making them more concrete and meaningful.
Examples z. Brief Examples z. Extended Examples z. Hypothetical Examples
Examples: Brief Examples z. Brief examples offer a single illustration of a point.
Examples: Extended Examples z. Extended examples offer multifaceted illustrations of the idea, item, or event being described.
Examples: Hypothetical Examples z. Hypothetical examples refer to something that could happen in the future if certain things occurred. y. Asks “What if…? ”
Narratives z. Narratives are stories, both real and imaginative. y. Fairy tales y. Legends y. Religious narratives y. Myths
Narratives z. Essential elements: y. Plot y. Characters y. Setting y. Timeline z. Anecdote: a short story of an interesting, humorous, or real-life incident.
Testimony: firsthand findings, eyewitness accounts, and opinions that directly support a fact or an assertion.
Testimony y. Expert testimony: professionals who have been trained to evaluate or report on a given topic y. Lay testimony: non-experts who can provide eye-witness accounts relating personal experiences
Testimony The speaker must establish credibility. y. Reputation of the source. y. Cite the source’s name and title
Facts and Statistics z. Facts: documented occurrences that include events, dates, times, people, and places z. Statistics: summarized numerical data that demonstrate size, trends, or relationships
Statistics z. Descriptive statistics represent only the people or places they reference. z. Inferential statistics are data collected from a sample or representative group and generalized to a larger population.
Facts and Statistics z. While statistics are an excellent type of supporting material, remember that they are merely reports of data rather than statements of truth.
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