According to 🆚 Based on

According to…

When saying "according to," you are basically repeating information from another source, such as a book, an article, a report or another person.
Essentially, it means “[source] said [sth]”. The information itself is not necessarily accurate, but the source claims that it is true.

For example:


• According to the documentary I watched last night, the average person eats about 8 spiders per year while sleeping.
• According to the SOP, we should wear PPE at all times when in the lab.
• According to the reference, this process is very straightforward.


Based on…

When saying "based on," you are using information from another source to make an inference or draw a conclusion = you take the information from teh source and build on it = souce --> then what/ what's the next idea.
Essentially, it means “Because of [A], I think [B]” or “judging by/from”.

For example:


• Based on my friend's experience, Thailand is an amazing place for a vacation, but not a good place to live.
• Based on the current results, we should be able to complete this part within the week.
• Based on the information in the referenece, we ordered the necessary materials.
• Based on our previous expereince, this should be a challenging but exciting project!

💡 Compare

✅ According to the weather report, Saturday is going to be a sunny day.
The source (the weather report) directly tells you some information (it will be sunny tomorrow).
✅ Based on the the weather report, I think we should take our trip on Saturday instead of Sunday.
The weather report never directly suggested when the trip should be taken. It simply gave information that you yourself used to guide your decision.

very useful👍