1. Language Network
Elaboration

2. Elaboration
Elaboration
Elaboration is the addition of
supporting details and explanations
to develop a description, a
narration, or an argument.

3. Elaboration
Imagine that you would like to get a dog.

4. Elaboration
Here are two DOGS FOR SALE
ads you might
see in the Dog for sale. $150.
local paper. Lucky Call 555-8652
Which ad is FUN-LOVING Golden/Yellow Lab
better? named Spot loves cats and children,
plays catch. Spot is 1 1/2 years old,
Why? weighs 55 pounds, and is in good
health. Shots current. $150.
Call 555-3223.

5. Elaboration
Types of DOGS FOR SALE
Elaboration
Dog for sale. $150
Lucky Call 555-8652
Facts and
Statistics FUN-LOVING Golden/Yellow Lab
named Spot loves cats and children,
Descriptive plays catch. Spot is 1 1/2 years old,
Details weighs 55 pounds, and is in good
health. Shots current. $150.
Call 555-3223.

6. Elaboration
As you write and revise, remember to elaborate.
Consider using...

7. Elaboration
Elaboration
Sensory Details
Facts and Statistics
Incidents or Anecdotes
Specific Examples
Quotations
Visuals

8. Sensory Details
Sensory details are bits of information
you can collect through
your five senses.
Use details to enrich your descriptive
and narrative writing.

9. Sensory Details
SENSORY DETAILS
LITERARY MODEL
The black stove, stoked with coal and firewood,
glows like a lighted pumpkin. Eggbeaters whirl,
spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar,
vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it; melting
nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen. . . .
—Truman Capote, “A Christmas Memory”

10. Facts and Statistics
Facts are statements that can
be proved, and statistics are
facts expressed as numbers.
Use facts and statistics to support
your opinions, arguments, and ideas.

11. Facts and Statistics
FACTS AND STATISTICS
STUDENT MODEL
The Panama Canal is among the greatest
engineering feats in the world. Begun in 1904, it
took ten years to build. By 1913 more than 43,400
workers were employed on the canal. They had to
drain swamps and cut through jungles. In all,
5,600 workers died from accidents or disease.

12. Incidents or Anecdotes
Incidents or anecdotes are brief
accounts of single events.
Use them to round out your
descriptions of people or events.

13. Incidents or Anecdotes
ANECDOTES
PROFESSIONAL MODEL
Show business tradition holds that whatever happens,
“the show must go on.” . . . Once flutist James Galway
was performing in an outdoor concert at Ravinia, just
north of Chicago. At one point in the show, when Galway
opened his mouth to take a breath, a large bug flew into
it. For a moment, he stopped playing and considered what
he might do. Then realizing the show must go on, he took
a great gulp and continued with his playing.
—Bob Sheperd, “The Show Must Go On”

14. Specific Examples
Use specific examples
to illustrate general
statements or to show
the characteristics of
a group.

15. Specific Examples
SPECIFIC EXAMPLE
PROFESSIONAL MODEL
The insurance industry has been burned recently by
earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Florida’s
Hurricane Andrew alone bankrupted nine insurance
companies.
—John F. Ross, “Risk: Where Do Real Dangers Lie?”

16. Quotations
Direct quotations are records
of people’s exact words.
Use quotations to illustrate ideas or
to lend authority to your opinions.

17. Quotations
QUOTATIONS
STUDENT MODEL
The author Ambrose Bierce knew how to put
people in their place. In his humorous dictionary,
he defined edible as “good to eat and wholesome
to digest, as a worm to a toad, and a toad to a
snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a
man to a worm.”

18. Visuals
Use charts, graphs, and other
visuals to present complex
information more simply.

19. Visuals
Gestation Periods for Mammals
400 365
350
300 275
250
200 Days
148
150
100 61 63
50 19
0
Mouse Dog Cat Sheep Buffalo Whale

20. Practice and Apply
Use an example to elaborate the
following sentence.
1. Many problems, even serious world
conflicts, have been solved without
violence.

21. Practice and Apply
Provide facts or statistics to support the
following statement.
To see statistics you can use, click here.
2. Although more women are working
today than ever before, they still
struggle for recognition and equal
pay in the workplace.

22. Practice and Apply
• In 1900, women made up about 18 percent of the
work force.
• In 1900, women were mostly employed in factories,
on farms, and as servants.
• In 1999, women made up about 47 percent of the
work force.
• Many women are underpaid and work in low-level
jobs.
• Women who have thrived in male-dominated
businesses include Ann Fudge, a division president
at Kraft Foods, and Muriel Siebert, the first woman
to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
return to
Practice and Apply

23. Practice and Apply
Add an incident to the following
story idea.
3. I had never been afraid of bugs.

24. Practice and Apply
Add sensory details to the
following statement.
4. It was cool, so we made a campfire.

25. Practice and Apply
Use a quotation to support the
following essay topic.
5. Students in our class have strong
opinions about homework.