After you’ve chosen a thesis and outlined your argument, you will want to find evidence (in the form of quotations and paraphrasing) which will help to support your points. Using this evidence effectively will strengthen your arguments and will help the flow of your paper.

Effective use of evidence requires that you include the following:

This means that each time you have evidence you wish to use, you should begin with an element of your thesis thinking, then introduce the relevant evidence you are using to support it, and lastly analyze that evidence to show how it relates to your thesis.

For example, suppose you are writing a paper about the narrator’s feeling of powerlessness in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper." You wish to argue that a power struggle between the narrator and her husband occurs over the issue of the narrator’s writing. You’ve chosen the quotation, "he hates to have me write a word" from page two of the story as evidence for your argument.

• You must first introduce your argument in a topic sentence. Explain how it relates to your central thesis and make a point that will be backed up by your quotation. For example:

The narrator utilizes her writing as a vital form of self-expression, which her husband attempts to suppress, as he does all her assertions of will.

• Next, weave your quotation into a sentence that you begin with your own words. You should generally avoid beginning a sentence with your quotation, or allowing the quotation to stand alone. Here is one way of introducing the quotation from the Gilman story:

She tells her reader that "he hates to have me write a word," (2) for he claims to believe that writing endangers her health.

• Lastly, analyze the quotation. Show your reader how the quotation supports your point, in this case how it supports the idea of a struggle for power over the narrator’s writing.

Her husband belies his fear of her intellect in his need to control not only her physical movements, but the exercise of her mind as well.

• Put it all together. When all these pieces are in place, it will be clear to your reader how your evidence supports your argument:

Using the thesis, evidence, analysis model will help you use evidence effectively, ensuring that each piece of evidence is introduced and analyzed for your reader.