Debate cycle THV3

‘’Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can

succeed – and no republic can survive.’’

- John F. Kennedy – 35th President of the United States of America

Introduction

In a world forever dealing with the latest crisis, pandemic and ever-changing opinions, it is
important to be aware that debating is important part of dealing with it.

Good debating skills are part of good debates. They ensure that every party involved gets to
present their arguments in civilized manner and that people understand that opinions may
differ, but that debate also encourages people to understand each other.

In this lesson cycle we will attempt to learn what a good debate is, use proper arguments
and how to participate in a debate ourselves.

Note that the orange boxes indicate important information for the debate.
What is good debate?

DEBATE – A formal discussion of an issue at a public meeting or in a parliament. In a debate

two or more speakers express opposite views and then there often a vote on the issue.
- Oxford Dictionary

The key in the definition given above is that we talk about a formal discussion and not just a
discussion. It is important to be aware of the fact that this is crucial for various reasons.
A very important reason is that it promotes the idea of being able to discuss something
without emotions taking the lead, but letting facts play the most important part. The reason
why this is important will be explained in more detail in under ‘’what kind of arguments do
we use?’’

What structure of debate will we use?

There are various ways to debate constructively. However, during this lesson cycle we will be
using a plan similar to House of Commons in the United Kingdom. See the plan below.
Important to remember is that we will have two teams competing with each other. In
addition to this, we will add a jury party who (together with a chairman  teacher) decide
who wins the debate.
These two teams will, like the picture show, face each other directly. The jury will be in the
middle row.

Each debate will be covered in two lessons. In the table below you will find an outline of
what each team is expected to do.
In each debate, each competing team is expected to present the following:
- Three arguments supported by facts.
- After both have finished their respective rounds of arguments, we will open the floor
for debate. Each team may ‘’confront’’ the other with counter arguments.
- Each team will be able to present a counter argument at least once.

The jury does the following during these debates:

- Try, without bias, to decide who presents the strongest arguments and facts and the
strongest debating skills.
- The jury designs five questions for each team to test what they have presented. They
will be critical questions that will show if a team is well-prepared and can stand the
test of deepening their stance and arguments.

In terms of a chairman (teacher), they will make sure the debate runs in an orderly fashion.
They keep an eye on the team each team gets to spend on their arguments and, together
with the jury, tries the arguments and views of each respective team.
What kind of arguments do we use?
During these debates we will be able to use two kinds of arguments. You will find a definition
of these types in the box below.
Two types of arguments:
- Factual arguments: arguments based of facts, figures and date. Facts that can be
checked and proven. For this reason, factual arguments are considered the
strongest type of arguments.
- Emotional arguments: arguments based on feelings, emotions and (personal)
experiences. They are considered to be slightly more dangerous in use. The reason
for this is that they reflect what individuals or groups think, but not what
‘’everyone’’ thinks or feels.

Regarding the first type of argument it is important to remember to use reliable sources to
support the given argument. A list of (some of the major and traditional) sources considered
to be reliable is provided below.

 News outlets:
- BBC News
- CNN
- NOS
- RTL
- The Guardian
- NRC
- Volkskrant
- Trouw
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Washington Post
- The Economist
- The Independent
- The Daily Telegraph
- The Times
- Etc.

 Books: consider proper literature as a reliable source. Proof of why a writer or

researcher is reliable is judged based on his/her experience in the work field.
 Research papers: these can sometimes be published in newspapers or news
websites. They are also published by universities. These researches are also mostly
done in name of these universities.
There are, however, also independent researches done by companies, interested
parties or individuals.

Pay attention to the fact that reliable sources always state whose performed the research.
These so called ‘’credentials’’ can be checked as to further investigate reliability.
Other skills important when debating

 Body language: the way you stand says everything. Make sure you are upright, your
knees are unlocked, your shoulders hang down and your head is raised. Apart from
being a healthy way of standing, it also supports the strength of your voice;
 Voice: Basically, it boils down to the fact that you should never force your voice and
speak loud and clearly. Make sure to pronounce everything as it should be pronounced
and to emphasise importance using your voice.
 Vocabulary: the use of appropriate (formal) language is terribly important when
debating. They ensure the quality and seriousness of the debate.
 Listening: during the actual debate it is important to listen to your opponent carefully.
It means you can respond more accurately gives you to start formulating your
response.

Choice of topics and statement

We would like you to choose a topic that fits the following criteria:

- A topic that is up to date. A topic that is considered a current affair.

- The topic is of international importance. Think of elections in important countries,
humanitarian debates, racism, etc.

Statement

When forming a statement, please remember you are not creating a question. Your
statement should, possibly, already indicate your position in the debate. It should also
encourage the observer to compete in debate. An example:

‘’The current United States President should not be re-elected at the next election’’. Or,
‘’The law should stop the police service from carrying firearms’’.

The Teams and roles

In order for each group to prepare properly for the debates, each group might benefit form
dividing roles within the team. In the box below you will find some suggestions for roles.
The teams are divided based on the number of students in a class. There will be 3 teams.
Roles:
 Team leader: a member who steers the rest of the teams and organises and plans.
 Researchers: those people who credit themselves as talented readers and researchers.
They provide the information needed to write the arguments.
 Writers: those people who are talented writers and are able to give a voice to the
bulcks of information provided to you by the researchers.
 Speakers: students who are charismatic and are able to give voice to the written
language.
 Spies: those who research what the opponents might ‘’throw at you’’ during the
debate. Gets into their minds.
The Jury
The jury, together with the chairperson, has an important roles during the debates. They
decide together which team wins the debate.
It has been stated earlier that the jury has to do this in an impartial way. This means that you
are not allowed to judge based on your own personal opinion on the subject.
You base it purely on the strength and checkability of given arguments and supporting facts
and on how well each team has performed in terms of other debating skills.
However, individual jury members may be swayed by emotional arguments. For this reason,
as stated before, we would say that emotional arguments can be terribly strong, but they
affect the jury in such way that is considered more dangerous to a factual debate.

An example of a jury. Jury service is an important part of the British and American
law system. Civilians are obliged to, at least once in their lives, perform jury duty and decide,
together with a judge, whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty of committing a crime.
Our lesson cycle
During these debates, we aim to follow the time-path given below. However, the teacher
has the right to change if necessary and will do so in accordance with the students.
We aim to finish the whole cycle (including hand-in of debate report) in 8 weeks.

Week number Task

Week 1 - What is debating?
- What are arguments and what
arguments do we use?
- Forming groups.
- Choosing topics.
- Division of roles in groups.
- Outline of which group debates
when.
Week 2 - 2 lessons on preparing for first
debate.
- Note that the group first
participating in the second debate,
you have longer to prepare.
Week 3 - Lesson 1: first debate.
- Lesson 2: question round and jury
deliberation.
Week 4 - 2 lessons on preparing for second
debate.
Week 5 - Lesson 1: second debate.
- Lesson 2: question round and jury
deliberation.
Week 6 - 2 lessons to prepare for final debate
- Note: one group is finished with
active debating. They work on their
debate report.
Week 7 - Lesson 1: third and final debate.
- Lesson 2: final question round and
jury deliberation.
Week 8 - Lesson 1: work on debate report.
- Lesson 2: hand in debate report.
Debate report
In the box below we have described what is expected of each team when it comes to
handing in a debate report. Take in mind that all debating reports should cover two debates.
In the outline on the next page, an overview of how much influence your debate report has
on the final mark, has been added to the rubric.
Your debate report should include:
 Logbook  who did what? How much time did they spend doing it? Which roles did
they take on during the debate and the preparation?
 Arguments  all the arguments used in both the opening of the debate and the
debate itself.
 Questions  all questions received from the jury and the answers given to them.
 Reflection  an individual reflection for each team member answering the following
questions:
- What did I learn during this debating cycle? Explains how this can be used in the
future.
- Could I/we do things differently during another debate?
- Has it changed the way you think about the topics that have been debated?
- How did your team perform?
Build-up of mark/rubric
Each group gets a mark for their overall performance during the debate cycle. However,
there is one element which may influence an individual mark as active participation is also
rewarded. It may influence a mark with a maximum of 1 point (10 points).
It should also be noted that losing a debate does not necessarily influence your final mark in
a bad way.

Criteria Max. points awarded

Quality of debate:
- Includes: quality of arguments,
presentation of arguments, and …/70
debate procedures.
- Further remarks on demands during
the debate can be found inside this
document.
Personal participation during debate cycle:
1.
2.
3.
4. …/10
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Debate report:
- Description of what is required in a
debate report can be found on the …/20
previous page.
Final amount of points: …/100

The debate cycle counts 2 times.