With a good thesis and an outline, you know what you want to say and how you want to say it. Now your essay needs the weight of evidence to support your thesis and convince your reader. Evidence consists of specific examples or opinions of others which support and illustrate your thesis. Try to give several examples rather than just one.
Evidence comes from either primary or secondary sources.
The primary source is the text on which you are commenting, or documents that deal directly with your topic. In literary essays especially, it is important that you have a good grasp of the primary source and have formed your own opinion about it before you turn to secondary sources. Although secondary sources can help support your view, your instructor is still interested in what you think about the work. When To Use Secondary Sources Not every assignment will require you to consult secondary sources. In literature courses, some instructors prefer not to assign research essays because they want you to come to your own conclusions about the text.