In description, support consists of the specific examples and details that help readers experience the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of your topic. Your description should get your main impression across to readers.

The paragraph and essay models in “Paragraphs vs. Essays in Description” use the topic sentence (paragraph) and thesis statement (essay) from the Main Point section of this chapter. Both models include the support used in all descriptive writing — examples that communicate the writer’s main impression, backed up by specific sensory details. In the essay model, however, the major support points (examples) are topic sentences for individual paragraphs.