LD Training Week 8 - Case Structure

Welcome to week 8 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "The Debate Case" This 2-video lecture gives you an understanding of how LD debaters present their arguments in the constructive speeches through a pre-written speech.  A good case sets the stage for the entire debate round, provides the value and value criterion, and presents contentions that support or negate the resolution.  If you don't start talking about a topic in the first speech, it's out of bounds for the remainder of the debate round.  Not only does writing a good case help you set up a good debate round, the pieces of a good case are quite similar to the pieces of any good written argument.

Before you watch the video, gather all the homework you have completed so far.  Make sure you have the arguments you have constructed, the refutations you have written, and the values you believe best support your arguments.  After today's lectures we'll start putting these together into your very own debate case.

When we discussed the debate round in week 3, we noted that both the 1AC and NC include pre-written speeches that lay out the case to either affirm or negate the resolution.  An LD case contains 6 parts: Introduction (you need to get your audience's attention); Resolution (what are we debating again?); Definitions (make sure we're all on the same page); Value (what justifies your position); Value Criterion (how are we going to measure whether we reached the value); and Contentions (evidence that the value you selected is good, can be measured by the criterion, and that upholding the resolution will best reach the value in question).  Some cases also contain a resolutional analysis, and other try to reply to alternative arguments, but those are optional pieces of the case.

The beauty of writing a case is that you already have the pieces you need for this endeavor.  You have crafted complete arguments both for and against the resolution, you have found evidence to support these arguments, you have decided which value and value criterion ought to apply to these arguments, and you have thought about the resolution quite a bit already.  So all you're missing is an introduction and some definitions to clarify the resolution.

So, without further ado, here's today's lesson.

This week's lesson is available on the Great Debate's youtube page. It is also available on the Great Debate website in embedded format. Finally, you can see the videos right here:

If you haven't already, be sure to visit The Great Debate website to request your free packet of outlines. If you are a student, you can request the student packet and coaches can request a coach packet with additional resources including a syllabus and answer keys.

Now that you know the pieces of a case, it's time to write yours!  As an exercise today, work in groups and try to outline the case or cases you think will best support and negate the resolution.  If you have access to research tools, try to clarify words in the resolution that need clarification.  Pick a value and value criterion, and put three of your arguments into the case as "Contentions."  Be sure to include your evidence.  Also, the value and criterion should provide more than just "my value is justice and my value criterion is speedy trials."  Be sure to include some of your own commentary to help your audience know when you have reached your value and why your value is the best one for analyzing the resolution.  Your affirmative case should have 3 contentions and your negative case should have 2.  The negative case probably doesn't need definitions either.  Present your shell case outline to the group and get as much feedback as you can.

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Read pages 67-76 before next week's lecture. Don't worry if it doesn't all make sense. You are just trying to understand the big picture right now.

Finally, as homework, take your case outline and make it sound like you wrote it.  Put it in easy to read prose so that you are comfortable reading it.  If you need additional support, find more evidence to uphold your contentions.  And then start practicing reading your case.  I'd suggest you read it out loud 4-5 times to make sure you are comfortable with all the words (especially names of your authors and any difficult words in your quotations) and that you can read it in less than the full amount of time you have for the speech.  Try to find one or two pieces of "back-up" evidence that supports the arguments you have already made in your case so that you can refute your opponent's refutations.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our ninth debate lesson, "Flowing" where you'll learn the techniques of note taking debaters have been using to be sure they can attack every little nook and cranny of their opponent's case.

If you are interested in learning a form of debate other than Lincoln-Douglas value debate, The Great Debate is a wonderful textbook for policy debate written by the teacher in these videos. The Great Debate provides training in the basics of debate and includes information for debaters who have already learned the fundamentals and are looking for more intermediate level training. The Great Debate has a teacher's guide (coming soon) which includes lesson plans and additional material for coaches. For more information about The Great Debate, visit our website. We also have produced a video training series for Public Forum Debate. The public forum series is another free resource from The Great Debate.