Supporting Details
Supporting details are pieces of information that help to explain and support the main idea of a text. They provide specific evidence, examples, or explanations to develop and clarify the main idea. Understanding how to identify and analyze supporting details is an important reading comprehension skill.
Identifying Supporting Details
To identify supporting details in a text, look for specific examples, statistics, quotations, or explanations that provide additional information about the main idea. Supporting details may also include descriptive details, sensory details, or anecdotes that help to illustrate or clarify the main idea.
Study Guide for Analyzing Supporting Details
- Read the Text Carefully: Pay close attention to the details provided in the text and how they relate to the main idea.
- Identify the Main Idea: Determine the central theme or main point of the text.
- Look for Specific Examples: Identify any specific examples, evidence, or explanations that support and expand upon the main idea.
- Analyze the Relationship: Consider how each supporting detail contributes to the overall understanding of the main idea.
- Consider the Significance: Evaluate the importance and relevance of each supporting detail in relation to the main idea.
- Practice Summarizing: Practice summarizing the main idea and its supporting details in your own words to ensure understanding.
By mastering the skill of analyzing supporting details, you will be able to comprehend and interpret texts with greater depth and accuracy.
[Supporting Details] Related Worksheets and Study Guides:
.◂English Language Arts Worksheets and Study Guides Sixth Grade. Supporting Details
Study Guide
Supporting Details 
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Supporting Details Worksheet/Answer key
Supporting Details Worksheet/Answer key
Supporting Details Worksheet/Answer key
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Worksheet/Answer keyWorksheet/Answer keyWorksheet/Answer keyWorksheet/Answer keyThe resources above cover the following skills:
Reading Standards for Literature
Key Ideas and Details
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. [RL.6.1]
Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. [RL.6.3]
Reading Standards for Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. [RI.6.1]
Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. [RI.6.2]
Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes). [RI.6.3]
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not. [RI.6.8]
Writing Standards
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.6.9]
Apply Grade 6 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., “Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not”). [W.6.9b]