Details

• Nature of Details
• Specific - apply to unique situations
• General - can apply to many situations
• Concrete - details that can be counted/measured
• Abstract - details that exist only in the mind: love, fear, etc.
• Purpose of Details
• Explanatory
• Descriptive
• Supporting
• Evidentiary
• Types of Details
• Statistics
• Facts
• Expert Opinion
• Anecdotes / Stories / Personal Experiences
• Examples
• Sources of Details
• Primary / firsthand
• Secondary / secondhand
• Personal Observation
• Quality and Appropriateness of Details
• Accurate
• Current
• Pertinent
• Relevant
• Reliable
• Representative
• Sufficient
• Verifiable

Questions:

1. What is meant by "be more specific"?
2. What is meant by "add more specifics"?
3. What is meant by "details in the paper are inappropriate"?
   (from Traditions and Adaptations: Writing in the Disciplines, Dean Ward, pp.295-301)

1. Who was involved?
2. What happened and what were the results?
3. When did it happen?
4. Where did it happen?
5. Why did it happen?
6. How did it happen?

1. Who did it happen? (Narration)
2. How does it look, sound, feel, taste, smell? (Description)
3. What are examples of it or reasons for it? (Illustration or support)
4. What is it? What does it encompass, and what does it exclude? (Definition)
5. What are its parts or characteristics? (Analysis)
6. How is it alike, or different from, other things? (Compare and Contrast)
7. Why did it happen? What were the results? (Cause and Effect)
8. How do you do it, or how does it work? (Process)
   
   
   From: Jane Aaron, The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, 3rd ed., pp11-12.