The Four Leaks
A case can look complete and still leak. These are the four that wreck most arguments — yours and other people's:
- The unsupported claim. A claim stated as if it's obvious, with no evidence holding it up. “Everyone knows uniforms hurt learning.” Do they? The marker's first question is always prove it — and an unsupported claim has no answer.
- The weak link. The reason and the evidence are both fine, but they don't actually connect. “My cousin's school starts later and their marks went up.” Up for a hundred possible reasons — the evidence doesn't prove this reason. A non sequitur: it simply doesn't follow.
- Contradicting yourself. Two of your own points can't both be true. “Phones help us stay organised… and they're a pointless distraction.” Pick one — say both and you've handed over your own counter-argument.
- Borrowed authority. Leaning on someone with no real standing on this — a celebrity, a viral post, "they say". This is rung 1's faked-ethos trap wearing a suit: fame isn't expertise.
Say it plainly: a case fails not when a point is wrong, but when a join is weak. Test the joins, not just the parts.
How to Find the Leak Fast
Walk the case backwards from the claim. For each move, ask one question: “says who, and how do they know?” for authority; “where's the proof?” for a claim; “does this evidence actually show that reason?” for a link; and “have I said the opposite anywhere?” for contradiction. The leak is wherever the question has no clean answer.
Exam-saver: when you analyse an argument, don't stop at "it's persuasive". Name the move (claim, reason, evidence), then judge whether the join holds — and if it doesn't, name the flaw exactly. "Unsupported claim" or "borrowed authority" earns marks; "I didn't really agree" doesn't.
Why Naming It Sets You Free
This is the same gift as spotting a faked appeal. The moment you can say “that's borrowed authority” or “that's an unsupported claim”, the trick stops working on you — and you stop accidentally pulling it in your own writing. You go from feeling that something's off to knowing exactly what it is.