Backing Claims with Evidence

A claim is a promise; evidence keeps it

When you write "our team has a huge community impact," that's a claim - an assertion, nothing more, until you back it up. Judges are trained to be skeptical, because every team says they have impact. What sets a winner apart is evidence: specific, verifiable details that make the claim hard to doubt.

Think of it like a battery on the field. You can claim your battery is healthy, but the judges, like a good driver, want the reading: 12.4 volts at rest, not a brownout dropping toward 6.8 under load. Numbers settle the argument. Same in writing.

Show, don't just tell

Don't tell the judge what to conclude. Give them the specifics and let them conclude it.

• Telling (weak): "We inspired many students to pursue STEM."
• Showing (strong): "Of the 48 students who finished our two-year program, 31 enrolled in a high-school engineering pathway, and four have since joined our team as mentors."

The second sentence doesn't claim impact; it shows it. The reader decides "this team has impact" on their own, which is far more convincing.

Evidence that works

Strong submissions mix several kinds:

1. Numbers and trends: students reached, hours volunteered, dollars raised, clubs started. Growth is powerful ("tripled in two years").
2. Concrete examples: one specific student, event, or partnership, told briefly.
3. Outcomes, not activities: don't stop at "we ran a workshop." Add "and 12 attendees started their own FLL team."
4. Third-party validation: a quote from a partner, a recognition, a sustained sponsorship.

Make claims measurable

Good test: could a skeptic check it? Words like "many," "a lot," "significant," and "countless" are red flags. Replace them with counts.

• Vague: "We helped countless people in our community."
• Measurable: "We taught 312 community members basic coding at the public library over three years."

Honesty and attribution

Evidence only works if it's true and credited. When you use someone else's words or ideas, you have three honest options: quote them (exact words, in quotation marks), paraphrase (their idea in your words), or summarize (the main point, much shorter). All three should make clear who said it.

• If a partner praised you, quote them accurately: a mentor at the library said, "Your students filled a gap the school district couldn't."
• Never inflate numbers or invent quotes. Judges may interview you, and one discovered exaggeration can sink an otherwise strong submission.

A claim-evidence loop

While drafting, run every paragraph through this:

1. Write the claim. ("We made STEM accessible.")
2. Ask "how do I know?" Answer with a fact.
3. Attach the evidence. ("...by offering 84 free workshops, reaching 600 students.")
4. Cut the bare claim if the evidence stands on its own. Often the proof is more convincing than the assertion, so let the numbers carry the sentence.

Claims tell the judge what to think. Evidence makes them think it themselves.