Task 2 · Cross-cutting skill

Examples and evidence — the skill, not the paragraph

This does one job: it makes an abstract claim concrete, without pretending to a source you do not have. Once per body paragraph, after the claim has been explained. It is also where the most self-inflicted damage in Task 2 happens, because inventing a statistic feels like rigour while you are doing it.

The long versionwhat it is, what it costs, where it stops

4 examplesworked, and the mistakes with their repair

Guided practice3 steps, you write, then you compare

3 exercisesevery wrong option explains itself

Start here · the long version

What examples and evidence really asks you to do

An example shows an abstract claim in operation. It illustrates; it does not prove, and no wording will make it prove.

You have no sources, and you are not expected to

The exam gives you no reading material and no data. Every citation in a Task 2 response is therefore either general knowledge or invention, and examiners read a great many of the second kind. “A recent study found that 73% of employees…” is a fabricated fact; it reads as rigour to the person writing it and as fabrication to the person marking it, and once a reader has seen one, every other claim in the essay is read with suspicion.

What an example can legitimately do is make the abstract visible. A claim about congestion charging becomes checkable when a reader can picture central London; a claim about ageing populations becomes concrete when Japan is named. That is genuinely useful — a reader who has seen the claim in operation understands it better — and it requires no source at all, because you are pointing at something widely known rather than citing a measurement.

The line between the two is the verb. “A case in point is” and “this can be seen in” illustrate. “Studies have proven” and “research shows that 68%” claim a measurement. The first pair costs nothing and the second buys a risk you did not need.

Illustrate, do not cite

“A case in point is” needs no source. “A 2019 study found” needs one you do not have.

No invented figures

A percentage with no source is fabricated, and hedging it makes it worse rather than safer.

General knowledge is fine

Naming London, Japan or the pandemic is pointing at something known, not citing a measurement.

One per paragraph

A paragraph that is mostly example has stopped arguing and started describing.

What it costs you to skip this

An invented statistic damages beyond its own sentence: it puts every other claim under suspicion, including the ones that were solid. And a paragraph with no example at all leaves an abstract claim abstract — the criterion asks for ideas that are extended and supported, and an unillustrated claim has been asserted twice rather than supported once.

Where it stops applying

An example cannot carry the argument. If the paragraph is mostly example, the reasoning was never written and the case rests on one anecdote. It must also actually be a case of your claim: an example that illustrates something adjacent is worse than none, because the reader now has to work out what it was for and concludes you did not.

Examples · watch, then the mistakes

The skill working, and the two ways it fails

Worked example · A case in point is

A case in point is central London, where traffic entering the charging zone fell in the first year of the scheme.

Why it works: Concrete, widely known, and it needs no citation. Adding “by 18%” would have turned a safe illustration into an invented measurement.

Worked example · This can be seen in

This can be seen in countries with ageing populations, where the ratio of workers to retirees has shifted within a single generation.

Why it works: It points at a well-known pattern without naming a study or a number. The reader can verify the shape of the claim from general knowledge, which is all an example needs.

Studies have proven that 68% of commuters would switch to rail if services improved.

Two fabrications: a study you cannot cite and a figure you invented. Research also indicates rather than proves.

Repaired: Commuters are widely reported to be willing to switch where services are reliable.

For example, my cousin stopped driving to work after the charge was introduced.

A single personal anecdote is not an example of a general claim, and Task 2 is not a personal essay.

Repaired: For example, cities that have introduced charges report measurable falls in central traffic.

Now you try · with the scaffolding on

Build it one step at a time

Support it with an example that illustrates — and stays defensible.

The material

Your claim: “Public libraries reach readers that commercial provision does not.”

Step 1Name a concrete case

Something widely known. No percentages, no studies, nothing you would have to cite.

Your version0 words · minimum 8

8 more words before you can compare. Writing it yourself first is the whole exercise.

Step 2Say what it shows, and what it does not

Step 3Write claim and example together

Exercises · production

Now judge it without the scaffolding

Every wrong option is wrong for its own reason, and it says so. Nothing here is scored automatically.

Which support is safe in a Task 2 response?

Choose an option first

Why is an invented percentage worse than no example at all?

Choose an option first

Your paragraph is two-thirds example. What is wrong?

Choose an option first

Where it is practised

This skill lives in a stage of the essay too

Body paragraphs

Where this skill is built into a paragraph, with the rest of the stage around it.

Thesis and position

It states the answer to the question and keeps that answer visible from the first paragraph to the last.

Topic sentences

It opens a paragraph by naming the one claim that paragraph exists to support.

Explanation and development

It takes one claim and follows it, instead of stating four claims and following none.

Contrast and concession

It admits what is true in the opposing view and then explains why your position survives it.

Sentence types

It varies the shape of your sentences for a reason, instead of writing every sentence the same way.

Critical final review

It checks the four things that can still be fixed, in the order that finds the expensive problems first.