Fact As Tool of Nonfiction

                                                                 By Abigail Rivas

Nonfiction writing can be categorized as one of the most important writing genres for its wide use. Whether it be in classes, for fun, as an assignment, a majority have either read or written a nonfiction writing piece. Fact most commonly defines nonfiction. To effectively incorporate factual evidence in your writing, you must consider verification of sources, a balance of analysis and fact, as well as the notion that factual evidence should serve as support to an essay, not create it.

 Fact can help validate your essay as well as give it credibility, making it a reliable source for readers. To fit the mold as a reliable source, one must verify the dependability of a source. Occasionally media sources will intentionally present false statistics to readers to create propaganda. It is important that you verify that your factual evidence originates from a reliable source, such as textbooks, official websites, institutional sites, and reputable news sources (Examples of Sources That Are Often Most Credible, presentation.com). Most importantly in terms if appealing to a reader, verifying sources will create a writing piece that is reliable to a reader. 

When writing, it is important to maintain a balance between fact and analysis. By doing this, an author shows precedent and clarity over one's subject. A writer may present too much factual evidence and fail to provide an explanation for their use, making it harder to communicate an idea to the reader.  You can avoid flooding an essay with excessive amounts of either analysis and opinions, and fact by proofreading, revising, and editing an essay with caution to this issue (Facts Are Not Always More Important than Opinions: Here’s Why., Ellerton)

It also is important that a writer understand that facts should not be used to create an argument, rather to support it. To incorporate factual evidence properly, one must create an argument and use fact to compel the reader that their argument is correct. In a research journal titled "Does Flower Preservative Extend the Live of Cut Flowers?" the writer uses a fact derived from a series of experiments to argue that flower preservative helped preserve the weight of the tested flowers. Later, the author will argue that flower preservative did preserve the life of cut flowers. By using factual evidence to support an argument, the author has offered fact-based evidence to legitimize the essay’s primary argument. Again, it is important to manage a balance between fact and opinion. This piece demonstrates this notion by including one sentence worth of factual evidence, and three of analysis/opinion, as well as provides a possible explanation for an unexplained phenomenon. Finding a healthy medium between the two creates a persuasive and effective essay.

Including fact in an essay adds a new perspective to a reader, and creates a stronger, more effective argument.