Chapter 7: Supporting your Ideas

• Supporting materials


  Used to support a speaker's ideas
• Types of supporting materials

  • Examples
  • Statistics
  • Testimonies
• Examples


  • Brief examples
  • Extended examples
  • Hypothetical examples
• Brief examples are called specific instances
• Extended examples


  • Narratives
  • Illustrations
  • Anecdotes
• Hypothetical examples


  • Examples that describe an imaginary or fictitious situation
• Statistics


  • Numerical data often cited in passing to clarify or strengthen a speaker's points
• Testimonies


  • Quotations or paraphrases used to support a point
• Types of testimonies


  • Expert testimony
  • Peer testimony
• Expert testimony


  • Quotations or paraphrases from people who are acknowledged authorities in their fields
• Peer testimony


  • Opinions of people; not prominent figures, but ordinary citizens who have first hand experience on the topic