✏️ WritingGrade 5Lesson 4
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Support Ideas with Evidence and Examples

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Learning Objectives

  • 1Support a written claim with at least three pieces of evidence from different sources
  • 2Identify the three main types of evidence: statistics, expert quotes, and examples
  • 3Match a claim to the strongest evidence that proves it
  • 4Judge whether a source is reliable enough to use in an essay
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Mini Lesson

A claim is only as strong as the evidence under it. Imagine a building with a heavy roof but no pillars — it falls down. Your claim is the roof. Evidence and examples are the pillars that hold it up. Strong writers do not just tell readers what to think; they prove it with facts, quotes, and stories that come from trustworthy sources.

The Three Main Types of Evidence

  • Statistics — numbers, percentages, or measurements from a study or survey. They show how big or how often something is.
  • Expert quotes — the exact words of a doctor, scientist, teacher, or other person who knows the topic well.
  • Examples — a real story or specific case that shows the claim in action, sometimes from your own life.

How to Build a Supported Paragraph

  1. Write your claim as one clear sentence.
  2. Add a piece of evidence — a statistic, a quote, or a strong example.
  3. Explain how that evidence proves the claim.
  4. Repeat with two more pieces of evidence from different sources.
  5. End with a sentence that links the evidence back to the claim.

Choosing Reliable Sources

  • Prefer experts and published studies over random websites or social posts.
  • Check that the source is recent — old data may no longer be true.
  • Use at least two different sources so your evidence does not all come from one place.
  • Always say where the evidence came from so the reader can trust it.
Claim Held Up by EvidenceA claim card at the top connects to three evidence pillars below: statistic, expert quote, and example.Claim Held Up by EvidenceCLAIMwhat the writer wants to proveEvidence 1Statistica numberfrom a study"..."Evidence 2Expert Quotewords froma specialistEvidence 3Examplea real storyor specific caseThree pillars of evidence support every strong claim.
Every claim needs at least three supporting pillars.
Three Types of EvidenceA reference card with three rows describing statistics, expert quotes, and examples, each with a sample sentence.Three Types of EvidenceStatisticsNumbers from a study or survey.Example: "78% of Grade 5 learners read every day.""Expert QuotesExact words of someone who knows the topic.Example: A doctor said, "Sleep builds memory."ExamplesA real story or case that shows the claim.Example: My cousin's club beat the reading goal.
Three types — pick whichever proves the claim best.
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Tip: after every claim, ask yourself — "How do I know that?" If you cannot point to a fact, quote, or example, you need stronger evidence.

Vocabulary
claim
A sentence that states what the writer believes or wants to prove.
evidence
Facts, quotes, or examples that prove a claim is true.
statistic
A number from a study or survey, often a percentage or measurement.
expert quote
The exact words of a person who knows a topic well, used to back up a claim.
example
A real story or specific case that shows the claim in action.
source
The book, website, study, or person where a piece of evidence came from.
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