​ ​Chapter 3: Supporting Details: Facts, Quotations, and Statistics 

 
 
Practice 1 : Specific Supporting Details :  
 
​Step 1 : Decide which of the following statements is an opinion, a fact 
that needs proof, or a specific supporting detail: 
 
 
1. FNP  7. FNP  13.FNP 
2. O  8. SSD  14.SSD 
3. SSD  9. FNP  15.O 
4. O  10.SSD  16.SSD 
5. FNP  11. FNP  17. FNPe 
6. SSD  12.SSD 
 
​MODEl : Direct Quotations : ​ ​Writing Technique Questions : 
 
1. Which sentence states the main idea of the first paragraph? 
The first sentence - It is no secret that performance-enhancing drugs 
have been used by Olympic athletes for decades- is the 1st paragraph's 
main idea. 
 
2. What direct quotation supports it? What phrase introduces the 
quotation?  
Supporting direct quotation:​ “From the brute steroids the East Germans 
reportedly used on their Olympians during the Cold War to today’s 
man-made versions of natural human proteins, drugs have been as much 
a staple of the Games as gold, silver, and bronze.” 
The phrase that introduces the direct quotation:​ “According to an article 
in Forbes magazine” 
 
3. What is the main idea in the second paragraph? What three direct 
quotations support it? 
The 2nd paragraph's main idea is: “It seems apparent that if athletes want 
to win, they must consider using drugs” 
The direct quotations that support it are :   
● “If you are especially gifted, you may win once, but from my experience, 
you can’t continue to win without drugs. The field is just too filled with 
drug users.”  
● “a large percentage”  
● “A lot of experts, at least in private, feel that way.” 
 
4. What verbs introduce the quotations in the second paragraph? 
The verbs are : states-believes-and claims. 
 
5. Explain the in-text citation at the end of the second paragraph: 
• Who spoke the words in quotation marks? That was Charles Yesalis 
• Who wrote the article in which the words in quotation marks appear? 
That was a person called Herper 
 
 
Practice 2: Punctuating Direct Quotations 
​Add punctuation to the following direct quotations, and change the 
capitalization if necessary. 
1. Dr. Yixuan Ma, a well-known astrophysicist who has been studying black 
holes, said, “They are the most interesting phenomena we astrophysicists 
have ever studied.” 
2. As she explained, “In black holes, the laws of nature do not seem to 
apply.” 
3. “A black hole is a tiny point with the mass 25 times the mass of our sun,” 
explained Ma’s associate, Chun-Yi Su. “Black holes are created by the 
death of a very large star,” she stated. 
4. “It is an invisible vacuum cleaner in space,” she added, “with 
tremendous gravitational pull.” 
5. According to Dr. Su, “If a person falls into a black hole, he will 
eventually be crushed due to the tremendous gravitational forces.” 
6. “Time will slow down for him as he approaches the point of no return,” 
she said, “and when he reaches the point of no return, time will stand still 
for him.” 
 
 
Model : Indirect Quotations: 
​Writing Technique Questions: 
 
1. Underline the verbs said and stated in sentence 6. What tense are these 
verbs? 
The verbs are: said - stated. They are in the simple past tense.  
 
2. Underline the verbs in the indirect quotations following these two 
verbs. Compare them with the same verbs in the model on page 43. Are 
they in the same or a different tense?  
The verbs are: had prescribed - were - might win - couldn’t continue - feel. 
The verb feel is in the same tense as the verbs on module 3, in present. 
Whoever the other verbs are in different tenses (past perfect, simple 
past). 
 
3. Compare sentence 7 in both models. What has been added to sentence 
7 in the model for indirect quotations? How did the verb in the quotation 
change? 
What has been added to sentence 7 is “He asserted that”, and the verb “to 
be” changed from being in the present (is) to the past (was). 
 
4. In sentence 6, why are the words athletes and they in square brackets? 
The words “Athletes” and “they” are in square brackets to show that they 
have been added by the writer in order to give more sense to the 
sentence. 
 
5. Compare sentence 9 in both models. Did any words change? 
It seems like no words have changed. 
 
Practice 3: Changing Direct Quotations to Indirect Quotations: 
​Rewrite the following direct quotations as indirect quotations: 
 
1. Television channel KSA General Manager Jim Bums said, "Not everyone 
can attend college in the traditional way; therefore, taking courses via 
television will offer many more students the chance to earn a college 
degree." 
-Television channel KSA General Manager Jim Burns said that not 
everyone could attend college in the traditional way. Therefore, taking 
courses via television would offer many more students the chance to 
earn a college degree. 
 
2. Pre-med student Alma Rodriguez said, "I miss being on campus, but I 
have to work and take care of my family." 
-Pre-med student Alma Rodriguez said that she missed being on campus, 
but that she had to work and take care of her family. 
 
3. Other students said, "Last year, we spent several hours a day 
commuting to and from school. Now we don't have to do that." 
-Other students said that last year they had spent several hours a day 
commuting to and from school. Now they didn’t have to do that. 
 
 
4. Computer engineering student Amir Mehdizadeh stated, "I can choose 
when to study and how to study without pressure." He also said, "I will 
take two more telecourses in the falL" 
-Computer engineering student Amir Mehdizadeh stated that he could 
choose when to study and how to study without pressure. He also said 
that he would take two more telecourses in the fall. 
 
 
 
Practice 4: Using Quotations as Support:  
 
Computers cannot be compared to human brains. Simply because the 
complexity and strenght of the human brain exceeds any men-made 
computer. As Steven Pinker mentioned in the article he wrote in the U.S. 
News & World Report magazine ,by the title "Can a Computer Be 
Conscious?" , it is estimated that the information-processing capacity of 
even the most powerful supercomputer is equal to the nervous system of 
a snail which is a tiny fraction of the power available to the 
supercomputer inside the human skull. An addictional reason of why we 
cannot compare the human braint to computers is the fact that these 
two have completly different processing systems , as on his article, Steven 
Pinker stated that Computers find it easy to remember a 25-digit number 
but find it hard to summarize the main point of Little Red Riding Hood, 
and humans find it hard to remember the number but easy to summarize 
the story.  
 
  
Model: Statistics : ​Writing Technique Questions 
 
1. Underline the topic sentence of the paragraph. 
The sentence to be underlined is “the world’s population is increasing at 
a geometric rate” 
 
2. What is the source of the statistics that are used to support this idea? 
The source is the Population Reference Bureau. 
 
3. What reporting expression is used to identify this source? 
The reposting expression used is “ According to statistics from” 
 
Practice 5: Using Statistics: 
 
.The 1st figure indicates that the world Marketed Energy Consumption 
was in a steady increase between the of 1970 and 2010 and it’s projected 
to continue to do so until the year 2025. 
 
According to (1) ​the graphs,​ world energy consumption has been steadily 
(2) ​rising​. Currently, the nations of the world use between (3) ​404​ and (4) 
471​ quadrillion Btu (British thermal units) annually. By the year 2025, 
consumption is projected to increase to (5) ​623​ Btu, an increase of (6) ​32 
percent from the year (7) ​2010​. The largest consumers are the (8) 
industrialized​ countries, and the nations who consume the least energy 
belong to the EE/FSU (Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Union) group. 
Developing nations consumed approximately the same amount of energy 
as (9) ​the EE/FSU​ countries until (10) ​1990​, when the energy use of 
developing nations began to (11) ​increase​. By (12) ​2025​, it is projected that 
their use will nearly equal that of (13) ​industrialized countries ​.