Do your research
This is the final lesson in this advanced strategies section. It will show you how to prepare and use factual evidence, as surprising facts are very persuasive when you are making an argument.
Using the right facts, statistics or data can help you make powerful arguments. We will consider common topics that are asked in business or university, and discuss how to use interesting or surprising facts.
If you are comfortable talking about your company or university, then tell your teacher some facts about it.
Or, if you would prefer, you can:
- Discuss a famous company.
- Talk about a country where you would like to study or live abroad.
- Talk about your home country.
If you don't know any facts about your topic, use Wikipedia to do some research.
Using facts
Facts are a tool for making arguments and driving home points. Therefore, you need to make a claim before or after you state a fact. For instance:
- Incorrect: My company has 18 offices across the country [fact].
- Correct: My company is quite large [claim]—we have 18 offices across the country, from the northern area all the way down to the south [facts].
Vague language
You may not remember facts exactly, so you can use vague language. Here are some phrases you can use:
- I believe...
- If I remember correctly...
- Approximately/Roughly/About/Around (+ number)...
- ...or something like that.
—
to drive home [idiom]—to emphasize a point, make something really clear.
Now practice putting some facts into full, fluent answers. Use the phrases from the Language section in your answers.