How to Write an Essay: Gather Support

Search your background knowledge or the material provided by the instructor for specific information, including:

• Explanations to clarify meanings, categories/types, limitations, etc.
• Evidence, usually examples
  • When writing from personal experience, examples will be accounts of things you have done or observed
  • When basing an essay on material provided, examples will be descriptions or summaries drawn from the material itself
• Analysis to show the connection between the evidence and the point it supports

Choose the information you want to include in the paper and add it to the outline:

• Use the major supporting points from your preliminary outline for headings, and put them in complete sentences 
• Add more headings if you have thought of more supporting points
• Indicate in a few words the specific details you will use to develop each point
• Consider the connections between your ideas and re-organize as necessary

Begin by using the points on the outline for database, online, and library catalog search terms

• If you have trouble finding the information you need, change the wording or make your search terms either more general or more specific.
• Evaluate the credibility and usefulness of the sources you find
• Review the sources to make sure they address the questions you are trying to answer 

Then use the source materials to complete your outline

• Take well focused notes on your reading
  • Don’t try to write down everything; take notes selectively, focusing on the specific points you want to make
  • Make your notes concise
  • Use summaries and paraphrases whenever possible
  • When it is necessary to quote, make sure you use quotation marks in your notes
  • Include the author and page number in your notes
• Add the information from the sources to your outline
• Make a list of the sources you have decided to use