How to Write TOEFL Essay Supporting Ideas

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Writing supporting ideas

Now let's take a look at our second topic sentence. Here it is:

In addition to the previous point, in most cases police officers don't need guns.

Now let's try using a personal experience for our supporting ideas. Here's one way we could write the paragraph:

In addition to the previous point, in most cases police officers don't need guns. My father, for example, has been a police officer for over 20 years, and he has never had to use his gun. In fact, he says that most people who break the law are unarmed. Thus, it is often unnecessary for police officers to carry guns.

There we have it! Again, our supporting ideas all tell the reader why our topic sentence is true. You will also notice that we've used a few more transitional phrases: for example, in fact, and thus. We'll talk about that after we write the conclusion.