College Composition / Unit 17 CMP 0416 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Adding Evidence in Revision
The idea
Adding evidence in revision means finding the claims a reader would question and supplying what would answer the question.
In practice
Work in order. First, read the draft as a skeptical reader, marking every claim that made you think, how do you know? Second, for each mark, decide what kind of evidence would answer it: a fact, a statistic, an example, an expert. Third, find that evidence in your research, or note that you need more. Fourth, place it right after the claim it supports. Fifth, add a sentence of analysis connecting it to the claim. Sixth, reread to check that the paragraph still holds one main point and has not become a list of facts.
Where people slip
Do not add evidence to claims that need none. Common knowledge and the writer's own observations of the text under analysis do not need outside support, and padding them with sources only slows the reader.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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