Weaken questions have been one of my LR weaknesses (no pun intended lol), and I feel like I am finally improving, so I wanted to share my takeaways in case they help others who struggle with weaken questions. Also, if anyone has corrections or additions to what I've outlined, please comment!
If an argument says "you should do X solely because of Y", a solid answer choice will point to other factors (e.g., costs, negative impact, etc.) that the author is overlooking that provides a broader picture of why you actually shouldn't do X
for a phenomenon-hypothesis, looking for an answer that describes a alternative explanation is a great go to!
attack an unstated assumption of the argument. ex: we pay our employees less than other companies because the valuable training compensates. the author is assuming that valuable training is actually beneficial for them. a solid answer choice would attack this assumption by saying they're really experienced, indicating the training isn't necessary or valuable.
if an argument is based on an analogy, a good weakening answer will point out a difference between the analogy that points out why the provided analogy is bad
a correct weakening answer will not say "well some people claim or think otherwise" because we care about facts, not beliefs (exception: if it is a widely accepted/agreed upon belief). for example, if an argument is advocating for one theory, the correct answer will not describe how some people believe in another theory. if we just shared a contradicting belief, the author of the original argument could just say "okay and I don't believe them?" (it doesn't actually weaken the reasoning in their argument)
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