BOGUS CLAIMSA claim can be considered bogus or false, when the speaker promises more than he or she can deliver. For example, the speaker may speak vaguely of "many important experiments," or "recent clinical studies" to prove a point. The point may indeed have value, but the studies the speaker cites as proof are too fuzzy to have merit. Well-educated peo¬ple are rightly skeptical about promises from strangers.
Effective research sources use specific support-not just vague references to unidentified studies and sources. You can't evaluate "many important experiments" or "recent clinical studies" unless you know how they were undertaken, by whom, and where the results were published.
Also be on the lookout for sources that refer to "statistics that show...." Statistics can be very useful in proving a point, but they can also be misleading-especially if you don't have the numbers to evaluate their validity.
Ask yourself:
• Does the statistic raise any unanswered questions?
• Has the source of the statistics been revealed?
"Well-known" information is another form a bogus claim can take. Be wary of sources that tell you that "Everybody knows that..." or "It is a well-known fact that...." If the fact is so "well known," why is the writer bothering to cite it as support? Very likely, it's the best support the writer can muster-which doesn't speak well for the validity of the source or writer.
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