Get to Know: Facts & Opinion, Bias

Facts are statements that are confirmed. Either the accuracy or inaccuracy can be demonstrated. Statements of fact are unbiased because they provide information without expressing the author's opinions or beliefs. For example, water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

Opinion is a writer's sentiments, opinions, or views expressed in their statements. Neither of these is correct. They represent one person's opinion on a subject or problem. For example, the book wasn't as interesting.

Writers will add some opinions to their facts to make them more interesting. However, sometimes it can be difficult to separate the factual facts from the author's preferences and assumptions. Fortunately, the language utilized itself frequently provides useful cues in the arrangement of terms and phrases that help us distinguish between statements that are factual and those that are based on opinion.

Here are a few instances of such "signal" words and phrases that are frequently found in the sentence fragments that come before a fact or opinion:

FACT
- The annual event confirms...
- Archaeologists have recently discovered...
- According to the results of the tests...
- The investigation demonstrated...

OPINION

- She claimed that...
- It is the officer's view that...
- The observer argues that...
- Many researchers suspect that...

From the examples listed above, it is clear that the terms used to introduce factual and opinion statements may assist in identifying whether a statement is being presented as a fact or an opinion.

BIAS

The best reporting, writing, and research always consider both perspectives of an issue. This doesn't imply that a writer shouldn't take a position, but a cautious writer should constantly respect and consider the ideas of the opposite side. A writer is considered biased if they don't do this. When a writer shows favoritism for or prejudice towards someone, something, or certain ideas, that writer is biased. Biases can occasionally be easily seen in straightforward remarks. Sometimes a writer's prejudice is obvious in the words they choose, the facts or examples they choose, or the tone of their speech. 

It is the reader's responsibility to identify biases and critically consider them in order to assess how much they influence the way a writer presents their subject. A writer's bias is their preference for the other side of a given argument. The following components of a document should be carefully examined by the reader in order to spot bias:

1. Denotative and Connotative Meaning: A word's denotative meaning is determined by its dictionary definition; its connotative meaning is determined by the word's implicit meaning, which can be either positive or negative.

2. Descriptive Language: Words that authors use to bring out a certain feeling or sense.

3. Tone: The views that the author develops towards sources that challenge his or her point of view as well as towards those that support it.

4. Fairness or Intellectual Honesty: The extent to which the claims made by the writer are backed up by evidence, as well as how the author handles the evidence that opposes their statements.