How do I know if informative writing is biased?

All writing is very rarely 100% objective. Inevitably the writer’s opinions or views will be reflected to a greater or a lesser extent. This is not wrong. It is just something to always be mindful of.

You could ask yourself the following:

1. Does the article express an opinion on the topic - something is right/wrong, good/bad, etc? If it does, does it acknowledge both what is good AND bad? Only expressing something as fully good or bad, or right or wrong might be a clue it is biased.
2. how many sources (people, books, research, experiments, examples) does it refer to? Generally speaking if they only seem to use one source of information they are more likely to be biased, where someone who considers a wide variety of sources for their information is more likely to be unbiased.
3. Consider purpose- Are they trying to persuade or argue? If so, then go back to point one and consider whether they acknowledge more than one opinion. Look to see if they acknowledge or refute counter arguments.
4. These are just a few things to consider

Hello Claire,

A very good question. To identify whether a piece is biased you need to consider 1) it's purpose 2) it's context and 3) who is writing the piece can also be a clue.

1) Purpose - Is it designed to persuade the reader to take action? e.g support a campaign

2) An article on Vegan lifestyle published in a Fieldsports magazine discussing the pressure from an Anti-Bloodsports Group would be an entirely different context to one in a recipe book perhaps?

3) Using the above example ; if written by a Game Dealer or a Vegan chef the bias may well be visible.

as well as strong adjectives, look for emotive language e.g ' helpless creature ' as opposed to ' harvest ready gamebird' .