You can offer evidence in your essay using one of three strategies: paraphrasing, summarizing (which includes synthesising), or straight quotation. You will usually need to use all three approaches in an essay because there often isn't enough space for direct quotations. Paraphrasing and summarizing are ways of getting across the same information that goes into a direct quotation. In other words, they are alternative ways of saying the same thing. In order for an argument to be valid it must be supported by evidence. Evidence is any statement or series of statements which proves or disproves some aspect of the claim being made. For example, if I were writing an essay on the effects of television on children, then evidence would be any study or statistic that was published in a reputable journal. Evidence is different from opinion in that evidence can be used to prove or disprove a claim while opinions are just that, opinions. Without evidence, an argument lacks credibility and is considered invalid. When writing essays, it's important to provide evidence for your arguments. This allows readers to evaluate the strength of your claims as well as give their own opinions on the topic at hand. Evidence also helps readers understand what kind of research was done and where it can be found if they want to look further themselves.