Discriminating facts from opinions.

Identifying facts and opinions

What is Fact and Opinion?

A FACT is a statement that can be proven true.
It can also be a statement that is common knowledge from life experience.

An OPINION is a statement that is based on someone’s beliefs or feelings.

Why is Fact and Opinion an important reading strategy?
It is important to be able to identify facts from opinions so that we are able to understand what is real
from what is someone’s point of view or thought.

How do we identify Facts and Opinions to help us understand what we are reading?
Facts are true statements that give us information about the topic or main idea.
Opinions will have clue words or phrases that will tell us that the statement is someone’s feeling or
belief.

More explanations…

To sum up, facts

• can be verified in reference books, official records, and so forth.

• are expressed in concrete language or specific numbers.

• once verified, are generally agreed upon by people.

Determining An Opinion

Opinions are based on subjective judgment and personal values rather than on information that can be verified. An opinion is a belief that someone holds without complete proof or positive knowledge that it is correct. Even experts who have studied the same issue carefully often have very different opinions about that issue.

Opinions are often disputed, and many times involve abstract concepts and complex moral issues such as right or wrong, fairness and loyalty. 

Look for opinion words such as “think” or “thought”

Look for words that describe a feeling or belief such as
pretty, difficult, confusing, exciting, the best, and  the worst

Look for opinion comparison words such as better than, smarter than…

• Opinions are often introduced by verbs and adverbs that suggest some doubt in the writer’s mind:

  • It appears she was confused.

  • She seems to have the qualifications for the position.

  • They probably used dirty tricks to win.

Become an alert and critical reader. Understand the differences between facts and opinions, and interpret and apply both into your critical thinking.

Reference: http://www.readinginnovations.com