Traditional evidence: I’m using this term to mean the expected sources of information agreed
upon by the discipline. As an example, historians are expected to use documents from the
time (letters, diaries, government documents, newspapers, etc.). Social scientists draw from
a different tradition and often use data generated by large, anonymous surveys as evidence.
There is, of course, no real limit to such evidence. In general, “traditional evidence” is evidence
(data) that is thought of as somehow value-free, which the author then interprets or explains.
Voice: A component of style that refers to choices of words and sentence structures that
create the “sound” of the author’s speech in your mind when you read; using some slang
words may create a conversational tone. Sticking to more impersonal and formal vocabulary
and complete sentences results in a lecturing or explaining tone.