Picking your evidence

The point is that homework should be reduced, and the evidence offered is a celebrity's personal opinion about homework.

The content explains that an expert voice is only strong evidence if the person is actually knowledgeable about that specific topic.

A basketball player has expertise in sport, not in education policy or student wellbeing, so his opinion carries little weight here.

The evidence fails because it is not from someone with relevant expertise on the topic, matching the choice “The basketball player is not an expert on education, so the opinion does not really support the point.”.

Length is not what determines strong or weak evidence; short evidence can be strong if it is specific and relevant.

There is no rule that certain people can never be quoted; the issue is relevance of expertise, not who is speaking.

The content warns against judging evidence by how dramatic it sounds, so this is the wrong reasoning entirely.

Only the choice “The basketball player is not an expert on education, so the opinion does not really support the point.” correctly identifies the mismatch between the speaker's expertise and the topic being discussed.

The three evidence types are fact, example, and expert voice, each defined by what it looks like.

A fact is something true and checkable, not tied to one specific case or one person's opinion.

The plastic bag decomposition statement is a general, checkable truth, matching the definition of a fact exactly.

The choice “"Plastic bags can take hundreds of years to break down" is a checkable, true statement about the world.” is the fact; the others are an example, an expert voice, and an unsupported opinion.

The paper bag statement is a specific case from one school, which fits the definition of an example, not a fact.

The scientist's statement is an expert opinion, a distinct category from a general checkable fact.

"Everyone knows" is not checkable and is actually an example of weak, vague evidence, not a fact.

Only the plastic bag statement is a true, checkable general claim, so the choice “"Plastic bags can take hundreds of years to break down" is a checkable, true statement about the world.” is correct.