However, a lot of students are still unclear what constitutes evidence. They often misconstrue it for opinions. For the purpose of the SAT essay, we will define evidence as objective and impossible to disapprove facts and data that the author uses to prove his thesis.

Remember: Evidence is factual. It has nothing to do with opinions. You should be willing to bet your life on it. For instance, “My father has a BMW car” is a fact. I would bet my life on it. But “BMW is the best car in the world” is NOT a fact - it’s an opinion. Some people might think that BMW cars are the best in the world, and will try very hard to prove it. However, it’s just their opinions.

To recap what we discussed in the earlier chapters, the SAT essay is an argumentative essay. The author is trying to persuade you to agree with his thesis. In this chapter, you’ll learn about all the elements of evidence an author might use to build his or her argument. No passage will contain every single one, but you can highlight the elements that are present in your response. Knowing these elements and how to tackle them will definitely make it a lot easier for you to craft your response.

For each element, I’ve included an example of its usage as well as an analysis of how you could include it in your response.

1. Statistics/Data

            EXAMPLE:

            Argument: There has to be alien life on other planets.

            Excerpt: The Universe is simply too vast, too filled with planets and stars, for us to be alone. The Milky Way contains 100 billion stars, including our own Sun. In the           course of surveying thousands of stars over the last few years, the Kepler telescope has found that nearly all of them have planets and at least 17% have           Earth- sized worlds orbiting them.

            Analysis: By noting the incredible number of stars and orbiting planets, the author makes a strong case based on sheer probability that there is life on other           planets.

2. Results from Research/Studies

            EXAMPLE:

            Argument: Animals should be treated as if they were people.

            Excerpt: In McLellan’s case, her team measured the heart rates of cows, which, like in humans, go up when the animals are feeling stressed, and the levels of           cortisol, a stress hormone, in their blood. Sure enough, when cows were separated from their best buddy, their heart rates went up and so did their cortisol levels,           almost as if they were worried about their best friend’s absence.

            Analysis: By drawing upon the results of an experiment, the author solidifies her argument on a scientific basis, which builds more credibility and reinforces the           similarities between humans and animals.

3. Supporting Examples

          EXAMPLE:

          Argument: Save the environment, not to save the Earth but to save ourselves.

            Excerpt: You might be thinking that I’m blowing this whole “climate change” thing out of proportion. After all, you’ve barely noticed any changes in the weather,           right? Unless, of course, you live in one of the U.S. states that has experienced the polar vortex, where changes to convection currents due to a warming ocean led           to weeks of -40 temperatures. Or you’re a resident of California, whose nearly empty aquifers have led to extreme water rationing measures in some of the biggest           population centers in North America. Or you’re really hoping that those tropical bugs that carry Zika and Chagas disease and malaria will stay around the equator           where they belong, and not spread north as they have been for the past few decades.

            Analysis: The author provides more than one example of the detrimental effects of climate change to magnify the extent of the problem. The variety gets readers           to think of climate change not as an isolated problem but as one that will eventually affect them if they don’t do something about it. Indeed, the author clearly           wanted to make the issue of climate change loom large in the reader’s mind. The examples themselves describe dire circumstances that elicit fear and despair.

4. Appeal to Authority An appeal to authority usually consists of quotes from authority figures, research from respected universities, or actions of government or other authoritative bodies. It can raise credibility by showing the author is not the only one who believes in an idea increase trust by showing that an argument is well-researched gain acceptance or sympathy from readers who identify or think highly of the authority figure establish a precedent that puts peer pressure on other people to do the same.

            EXAMPLE:

          Argument: Animals should be treated as if they were people.

          Excerpt: In 2013, for example, the government of India declared dolphins to be “non-human persons.” This made keeping them captive for entertainment purposes           illegal everywhere in the country. And in 2015, a New York judge ruled that two chimpanzees could not be “unlawfully detained” for research purposes, citing the           writ of habeus corpus. Habeus corpus, literally meaning “show me the body,” states that no person may be detained without evidence of wrongdoing. In this ruling,           the judge extended Constitutional protection for “persons” to chimpanzees.

          Analysis: The fact that places as far away from each other as India and New York City have passed rulings in support of the humane treatment of certain animals           gives the author’s argument credibility and establishes a precedent. In other words, the idea has already been accepted, and the pressure is on other governing           agencies to do the same. It’s easier to persuade people to do something when they won’t be the first to do it.

          On the SAT, you want to scan the entire essay for evidence. Wherever you find evidence, you should underline it so that you can label every piece of objective,             fact-based evidence in the entire essay. Please remember to underline it as that is the marker we lay down to easily identify evidence in the passage.

          With that in mind, let’s work through the two practice essays from the previous chapter and find all the evidence in each. For each essay, please underline the           evidence in the essay itself and then compare it with what I have come up with.

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ESSAY PASSAGE 1

Adapted from Paul Bogard, “Let There Be Dark.” 2012 by Los Angeles Times. Originally published December 21, 2012.

1. At my family’s cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. But now, when 8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way, I worry we are rapidly losing night’s natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days’ gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness.
2. All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights. Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch. And too little darkness, meaning too much artificial light at night, spells trouble for all.
3. Already the World Health Organization classifies working the night shift as a probable human carcinogen, and the American Medical Association has voiced its unanimous support for “light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels.” Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn’t a place for this much artificial light in our lives.
4. The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known - the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs - and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would collapse....
5. In today’s crowded, louder, more fast-paced world, night’s darkness can provide solitude, quiet and stillness, qualities increasingly in short supply. Every religious tradition has considered darkness invaluable for a soulful life, and the chance to witness the universe has inspired artists, philosophers and everyday stargazers since time began. In a world awash with electric light...how would Van Gogh have given the world his “Starry Night”? Who knows what this vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?
6. Yet all over the world, our nights are growing brighter. In the United States and Western Europe, the amount of light in the sky increases an average of about 6% every year. Computer images of the United States at night, based on NASA photographs, show that what was a very dark country as recently as the 1950s is now nearly covered with a blanket of light. Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars. Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights. Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.

Not too hard, right? When you’re done, compare to what I’ve found:

Adapted from Paul Bogard, “Let There Be Dark.” ©2012 by Los Angeles Times. Originally published December 21, 2012.

1. At my family’s cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. But now, when 8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way, I worry we are rapidly losing night’s natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days’ gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness.
2. All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights. Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch. And too little darkness, meaning too much artificial light at night, spells trouble for all.
3. Already the World Health Organization classifies working the night shift as a probable human carcinogen, and the American Medical Association has voiced its unanimous support for “light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels.” Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn’t a place for this much artificial light in our lives.
4. The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known - the SAT Essay Guide 24 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs - and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would collapse....
5. In today’s crowded, louder, more fast-paced world, night’s darkness can provide solitude, quiet and stillness, qualities increasingly in short supply. Every religious tradition has considered darkness invaluable for a soulful life, and the chance to witness the universe has inspired artists, philosophers and everyday stargazers since time began. In a world awash with electric light...how would Van Gogh have given the world his “Starry Night”? Who knows what this vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?
6. Yet all over the world, our nights are growing brighter. In the United States and Western Europe, the amount of light in the sky increases an average of about 6% every year. Computer images of the United States at night, based on NASA photographs, show that what was a very dark country as recently as the 1950s is now nearly covered with a blanket of light. Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars. Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights. Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.
7. It doesn’t have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve, using new lighting technologies and shielding existing lights. Already, many cities and towns across North America and Europe are changing to LED streetlights, which offer dramatic possibilities for controlling wasted light. Other communities are finding success with simply turning off portions of their public lighting after midnight. Even Paris, the famed “city of light,” which already turns off its monument lighting after 1 a.m., will this summer start to require its shops, offices and public buildings to turn off lights after 2 a.m. Though primarily designed to save energy, such reductions in light will also go far in addressing light pollution. But we will never truly address the problem of light pollution until we become aware of the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing. Notice that I didn’t include any persuasive or reasoning elements here. You might notice that many/all of these facts support the argument the author is trying to make. But they are not the argument themselves. Facts are facts - lets try the same drill with one more essay.

ESSAY PASSAGE 2

Adapted from Dana Gioia, “Why Literature Matters,” 2005 by The New York Times Company. Originally published April 10, 2005.

1. [A] strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. While income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access to information increased enormously, the interest young Americans showed in the arts - and especially literature - actually diminished.
2. According to the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, a population study designed and commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts (and executed by the US Bureau of the Census), arts participation by Americans has declined for eight of the nine major forms that are measured....The declines have been most severe among younger adults (ages 18–24). The most worrisome finding in the 2002 study, however, is the declining percentage of Americans, especially young adults, reading literature.
3. That individuals at a time of crucial intellectual and emotional development bypass the joys and challenges of literature is a troubling trend. If it were true that they substituted histories, biographies, or political works for literature, one might not worry. But book reading of any kind is falling as well.
4. That such a longstanding and fundamental cultural activity should slip so swiftly, especially among young adults, signifies deep transformations in contemporary life. To call attention to the trend, the Arts Endowment issued the reading portion of the Survey as a separate report, “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.”
5. The decline in reading has consequences that go beyond literature. The significance of reading has become a persistent theme in the business world. The February issue of Wired magazine, for example, sketches a new set of mental skills and habits proper to the 21st century, aptitudes decidedly literary in character: not “linear, logical, analytical talents,” author Daniel Pink states, but “the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative.” When asked what kind of talents they like to see in management positions, business leaders consistently set imagination, creativity, and higher-order thinking at the top.
6. Ironically, the value of reading and the intellectual faculties that it inculcates appear most clearly as active and engaged literacy declines. There is now a growing awareness of the consequences of non-reading to the workplace. In 2001 the National Association of Manufacturers polled its members on skill deficiencies among employees. Among hourly workers, poor reading skills ranked second, and 38 percent of employers complained that local schools inadequately taught reading comprehension.
7. The decline of reading is also taking its toll in the civic sphere....A 2003 study of 15- to 26-year-olds’ civic knowledge by the National Conference of State Legislatures concluded, “Young people do not understand the ideals of citizenship… and their appreciation and support of American democracy is limited.”
8. It is probably no surprise that declining rates of literary reading coincide with declining levels of historical and political awareness among young people. One of the surprising findings of “Reading at Risk” was that literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than nonreaders, scoring two to four times more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event. One reason for their higher social and cultural interactions may lie in the kind of civic and historical knowledge that comes with literary reading....
9. The evidence of literature’s importance to civic, personal, and economic health is too strong to ignore. The decline of literary reading foreshadows serious long-term social and economic problems, and it is time to bring literature and the other arts into discussions of public policy. Libraries, schools, and public agencies do noble work, but addressing the reading issue will require the leadership of politicians and the business community as well....
10. Reading is not a timeless, universal capability. Advanced literacy is a specific intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great many educational, cultural, and economic factors. As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent minded. These are not the qualities that a free, innovative, or productive society can afford to lose.

When you’re done, compare to what I’ve found:

Adapted from Dana Gioia, “Why Literature Matters,” 2005 by The New York Times Company. Originally published April 10, 2005.

1. [A] strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. While income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access to information increased enormously, the interest young Americans showed in the arts - and especially literature - actually diminished.
2. According to the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, a population study designed and commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts (and executed by the US Bureau of the Census), arts participation by Americans has declined for eight of the nine major forms that are measured....The declines have been most severe among younger adults (ages 18 - 24). The most worrisome finding in the 2002 study, however, is the declining percentage of Americans, especially young adults, reading literature.
3. That individuals at a time of crucial intellectual and emotional development bypass the joys and challenges of literature is a troubling trend. If it were true that they substituted histories, biographies, or political works for literature, one might not worry. But book reading of any kind is falling as well.
4. That such a longstanding and fundamental cultural activity should slip so swiftly, especially among young adults, signifies deep transformations in contemporary life. To call attention to the trend, the Arts Endowment issued the reading portion of the Survey as a separate report, “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.”
5. The decline in reading has consequences that go beyond literature. The significance of reading has become a persistent theme in the business world. The February issue of Wired magazine, for example, sketches a new set of mental skills and habits proper to the 21st century, aptitudes decidedly literary in character: not “linear, logical, analytical talents,” author Daniel Pink states, but “the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative.” When asked what kind of talents they like to see in management positions, business leaders consistently set imagination, creativity, and higher-order thinking at the top.
6. Ironically, the value of reading and the intellectual faculties that it inculcates appear most clearly as active and engaged literacy declines. There is now a growing awareness of the consequences of non-reading to the workplace. In 2001 the National Association of Manufacturers polled its members on skill deficiencies among employees. Among hourly workers, poor reading skills ranked second, and 38 percent of employers complained that local schools inadequately taught reading comprehension.
7. The decline of reading is also taking its toll in the civic sphere....A 2003 study of 15- to 26-year-olds’ civic knowledge by the National Conference of State Legislatures concluded, “Young people do not understand the ideals of citizenship… and their appreciation and support of American democracy is limited.”
8. It is probably no surprise that declining rates of literary reading coincide with declining levels of historical and political awareness among young people. One of the surprising findings of “Reading at Risk” was that literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than nonreaders, scoring two to four times more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event. One reason for their higher social and cultural interactions may lie in the kind of civic and historical knowledge that comes with literary reading....
9. The evidence of literature’s importance to civic, personal, and economic health is too strong to ignore. The decline of literary reading foreshadows serious long-term social and economic problems, and it is time to bring literature and the other arts into discussions of public policy. Libraries, schools, and public agencies do noble work, but addressing the reading issue will require the leadership of politicians and the business community as well....
10. Reading is not a timeless, universal capability. Advanced literacy is a specific intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great many educational, cultural, and economic factors. As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent minded. These are not the qualities that a free, innovative, or productive society can afford to lose.

Again, these are the facts. You cannot argue against a single thing I highlighted above. No one can. Once you get good at separating the evidence from the rest of the essay, you’re

well on your way toward rocking the SAT essay.‍‍