Create a short 350 - 500 word piece where you discuss writing a paper that has validity. Make sure you cover: fact and fiction, supporting...

This assignment asks you to think about how you write a paper with validity focusing on key aspects of paper writing in general. I'll cover these below, but you'll need to apply them to your assignment.

Fact vs. Fiction
In writing a strong paper, it's necessary to separate fact and fiction for your readers both in your own opinions and in the sources you present. In your own points, you want to make sure you're not saying anything that isn't supported. Then, in your sources, you want to make sure you're using factual information and strong support for your points.

Supporting Evidence
In your paper, you'll want to evaluate each source, not just for fact and fiction, but for the source's individual value to a topic. If you're writing a paper about climate change, you'll want climate science scientists as sources. You wouldn't, for example, cite a political source for scientific information. Similarly, you wouldn't cite a medical doctor to answer questions about the law.

Bias
In your paper, you will want to evaluate your sources (and yourself) for bias. Are you presenting both sides fairly? Keep in mind, fair doesn't mean 50% and 50% - in fact, it often doesn't mean equal representation of two sides. On an issue like evolution, for instance, it would not be appropriate to dedicate half of a paper to evolution critics, because that's not a true representation of science. It would however, be a great idea to present scientists that have different ideas about a specific aspect of evolution. Similarly, you will want to make sure your own biases about a topic aren't getting in the way of your paper. If you're writing a story about "the best pets" you may love cats - but if you only write about cats and give no attention to dogs, you could come across as biased.

Logic
Finally, you should be very careful about the arguments you make in your essay. You will want to be sure to avoid logical fallacies so that you don't lose credibility with your reader and so that your ultimate argument makes sense. To learn more about logical fallacies, check out this encyclopedia link.