Difference between Subjective and Objective
When reading stories, books, text books or magazines there’s always two forms of writing used. Those two forms are subjective and objective. Now although these two sound similar they are completely different. Subjective entails dealing with emotions, opinions and maybe even some perspective. Objective on the other hand has to do with facts and figures. These two are very different from one another and hardly share any similarities at all. If you are a bit confused still on these two different styles, just stay with me while we take a closer look.
Reasons
The main difference between these two writing types is the fact that one is factual while the other is strictly just opinions and perspective. They are each great for different reasons; one makes a good debate style, while the other may make a good fictional book. When you are using subjective writing you are giving someone your opinions, your perspectives, your thoughts and your feelings. You are explaining what it’s feels like to be the person experiencing the event, emotion or idea. However when using objective writing you are stating what’s real, proven, data, facts and figures if you will. You are acknowledging that you are not the person who is thinking, feeling or experiencing an event, idea, etc., you are simply analyzing what you have observed. Subjective writing is what some consider opening the mind, the soul and letting your true feelings and thoughts spoil over. This is frowned upon when writing a data report because data is objective. It’s real, without being able to disprove, like math.
When to Use Each
They say that there’s always a time and place for everything, so when is that true for subjective or objective writing or reading. Well, if you’re writing poetry, a short fictional bedtime story, or even an opinion blog, well that’s all subjective writing and subjective style. You are expressing what’s within, making it purely subjective. If you’re reading an auto biography, the stock section, or need to write a 5 page essay on how to build a fire, well here we have objective writing and style. Objective is very stern and factual, would be used if you had to create a graph for a finished case study.
Which is Better?
Neither of these styles is better or worse in general, but they both have their strengths and weaknesses. If you are in school and your teacher told you to write what science means to you, well then subjective. You would want to pour your thoughts and opinions into the piece, not facts or figures. That would be a better style for an opinion piece. However a better style for your teacher’s auto biography would be a twist, an objective book full of her life’s history, and a subjective ending full of your thoughts and views on this particular teacher. So each one has its strengths and weaknesses and will do better for different things. You could say that someone in therapy may be asked to be subjective about an experience or conversely be asked to be objective – tell it the way others would perceive it.
Summary
- Subjective has to do with ones feelings, thoughts, heart, soul, mind, opinions, and perspective.
- Objective has to do with the truth, facts, and figures, data that can’t be changed, like science or math.
- Both have their pros and cons but each definitely need to be used throughout life.
- Subjective writing is great for a self expressing blog, poem, short story and many other countless things.
- Objective writing would be great for data presentations, technical essays and articles, or even writing a manual.
