Statistics and Data

You will use statistics and data to support the thesis of your essays. They serve as evidence for the arguments you make and provide context around the topic of your papers. Without statistics and data, it is difficult to verify that what you write is accurate or true; even anecdotes need to be supported by facts and figures to strengthen their impact as examples.

Statistics, the science of collecting, analyzing, presenting, and interpreting data.

Data are the facts and figures that are collected, analyzed, and summarized for presentation and interpretation. Data may be classified as either quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative data measure either how much or how many of something, and qualitative data provide labels, or names, for categories of like items.

"Statistics." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2023. academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/statistics/108592.

Your assignments are exercises in scholarly writing that you will continue throughout your academic and professional careers.  Consider that your work will be analyzed by readers who are more critical than your classmates and instructors.  Imagine someone examining your work for one of the following reasons and get into good habits now!