Support and
Elaborate:
8 STRATEGIES TO
IMPROVE YOUR
WRITING
Describe Miss Maggie within your notebook.
Write a description
of Miss Maggie…
this will give us a
starting point to
compare after using
the strategies!
Support and Elaboration Strategies:
1. Explanation (What do you
mean by…)
2. Example (For example, for
instance)
Support and Elaboration Strategies:
3. Description- Literal (nouns,
adjectives, verbs)
4. Description- Figurative (like,
as)
Support and Elaboration Strategies:
5. Personal Experience (I, me,
we)
6. Cause/Effect (Because, as a
result)
Support and Elaboration Strategies:
7. Compare/Contrast (Compares
to, but)
8. Another’s Experience (he, she,
they)
Support and Elaboration Strategies:
Let’s Practice
Together!
Miss Maggie was a __________ kind of person.
Give an explanation of why she was
_________.
By this I mean…
This means that…
To clarify…
To explicate…
In other words…
Give an example of her being _________.
For example…
For instance…
An example of…
To exemplify
Let’s practice these three additional ways
to elaborate.
 Describe: Tell what she looks like in literal language.
 Describe: Tell what she looks like in figurative
language.
 Narrate: Relate a personal experience to show
what you mean.
Let’s practice these three additional ways
to elaborate.
 Cause/Effect: Describe her using cause and effect
(Because, as a result)
 Compare/Contrast: Describe her by comparing or
contrasting her to someone else (Compares to, but)
 Another’s Experience: Describe her with another
person’s experience (he, she, they)
Miss Maggie…
Miss Maggie was a caring kind of person. What I
mean by this is that she was the type of person who
would help others in need. For example, every holiday
she would volunteer at the local food bank to help
distribute food and supplies. Many in the community
would describe her as the Mother Teresa of Chandler.
Because of her volunteer work, countless others were
able to enjoy the holidays free from stress and worry.
There are few people as caring as Miss Maggie.
Support and Elaboration Strategies:
Now you
try!
Bob was a ____________ kind of person.
Watch the clip and describe the little boy.
A League of Their Own