How to structure a debating argument in five steps
Jehiel Pather, NSW State Team
· 8 min read
The short answer
An argument is a reason the topic leads to a good or bad outcome, compared with the other side. To find arguments, list the stakeholders affected by the topic, rank them by importance, and ask how each is helped or harmed. To build one, follow five steps: name the argument, frame the context, explain why it's true (the mechanism), explain its consequences (the impact), and weigh it against the other side using scale, severity, duration, probability and vulnerability.
Ask a new debater why the affirmative should win and you usually get a list of claims. Phones are distracting. Zoos are cruel. Selective schools are unfair. Each claim might be true, and none of them is an argument yet. This lesson is about the difference.
What an argument is
An argument is a reason you're for or against the topic. It explains why the topic causes a good or bad consequence. And it's always comparative: you're comparing the world where the affirmative gets its way with the world where the negative does.
Every argument has to answer two questions for the adjudicator: why is it true? and why is it important? Most weak arguments answer one and skip the other.
Finding arguments with stakeholders
There's no single correct way to come up with arguments, and you'll always draw on what you know about the world. But the method that works most reliably, especially under prep-time pressure, is this:
- List every stakeholder the topic affects.
- Rank them by how important they are to the debate.
- For the top few, work out how the topic helps or harms them.
A stakeholder is anyone or anything affected by the topic, human or not. Keep them semi-specific. “People” is useless; “students who currently attend selective schools” gives you something to work with.
The five steps of an argument
1. Name it
Give the argument a short label so the adjudicator can write it down and your teammates can refer back to it. “Selection entrenches disadvantage” is a label. “My first argument is about fairness” is not.
2. Frame it
Explain the context. What does the status quo look like, and what factors are leading to a problem? This is where you show the adjudicator the world your argument lives in before you tell them what changes.
3. Explain why it's true
We call this the mechanism. Work out which premises you have to prove for your conclusion to follow, then prove each one. This is the step that turns a claim into an argument, and it should take up most of the time you spend on the point.
4. Show the impact
What are the consequences if you're right? Who is affected, and how? Be concrete: a student who can't get into a school, a family that has to move, a species that loses its habitat.
5. Weigh it
Explain why this argument should win the debate. Here are the five measures of importance we teach:
| Scale | How widespread is the impact? How many are affected? |
|---|---|
| Severity | How bad (or good) is the impact for each of them? |
| Duration | Is it short-term or long-term? |
| Probability | How likely is it to happen? |
| Vulnerability | How vulnerable is the stakeholder? |
You don't need all five. Pick the one or two where your argument clearly beats the other side's. A harm to a small number of very vulnerable children can outweigh a mild benefit to a large number of adults, but only if someone says so.
Where this goes next
The same five steps give you a map for rebuttal, because every argument can be attacked at each step. That's the subject of the four types of rebuttal. If you're new, start with how a debate works.
Common questions
- What is a stakeholder in debating?
- A stakeholder is anyone or anything affected by the topic. It can be human or non-human, such as students, parents, zoo animals or a government. Stakeholders should be fairly specific: “students at selective schools” is more useful than “people”.
- What does mechanism mean in debating?
- The mechanism is the part of an argument that explains why it's true: the steps of reasoning that lead from the topic to the outcome you claim. An argument without a mechanism is just an assertion.
- What is weighing in a debate?
- Weighing is explaining why your argument matters more than the other team's. We teach five measures: scale (how many are affected), severity (how badly), duration (how long it lasts), probability (how likely it is) and vulnerability (how vulnerable the stakeholder is).