When developing your arguments for your final essay, how might you determine what is fact and what is opinion? Does the opinion of an expert in the field carry more weight than the opinion of someone that is not? Explain why or why not.
Find one factual article online about popular music. Find an opinion-based article about popular music. For participation credit, let's discuss their differences, including tone, content, and word choice.
To determine what is fact and what is opinion while developing arguments for your final essay, there are several strategies you can use.
Firstly, it's important to understand the difference between facts and opinions. Facts are objective statements that can be proven or disproven with evidence, whereas opinions are subjective expressions that reflect personal viewpoints or beliefs.
When evaluating the factual accuracy of a statement, you can rely on reputable sources such as academic journals, peer-reviewed articles, government publications, and established news outlets. These sources are generally more reliable and have rigorous editorial processes to ensure accuracy.
To assess the opinion of an expert in a field compared to someone who is not, it is generally understood that the opinion of an expert carries more weight. An expert is someone who has extensive knowledge, experience, and credentials in a particular field. Due to their expertise, they often possess insights that are more informed and supported by evidence. However, it's still important to critically evaluate the expert's arguments and consider alternative viewpoints before drawing conclusions.
For finding articles, you can use search engines like Google and employ targeted keywords to get more relevant results. Let's start by finding a factual article about popular music. You can search for terms like "popular music statistics" or "history of popular music" to find articles with verifiable data.
Once you have found a factual article, look for features such as objective language, statistical data, references to reliable sources, and absence of personal bias or opinions. These characteristics indicate that the article is presenting factual information.
Next, let's find an opinion-based article about popular music. To do this, search for terms like "music criticism," "reviews of popular music," or "opinion on current popular music trends."
When analyzing the opinion-based article, pay attention to the tone, content, and word choice. Opinion articles often have a subjective tone, using language that expresses the author's personal viewpoint. They may include phrases such as "in my opinion" or "I believe." Additionally, opinion articles tend to focus on personal preferences, subjective interpretations, and evaluations rather than presenting verifiable facts.
By comparing these two articles, you can identify the differences in tone, content, and word choice. These observations will help you understand how factual and opinion-based articles vary in their approaches to presenting information. It will also give you insight into how to incorporate these different types of sources into your essay effectively.