Developing the skills in Debating _ Part 2

By Frendy Lim

Thirdly, include a conclusion to each argument. A number of arguments can sometimes be elaborative which leads to explicit, detailed explanations; such arguments carry the potential to impose confusion upon the other parties. Based on an article published by Gallaudet University, not including conclusions may devalue the entire argument. At times, especially in the case of lengthy arguments, a number of individuals require information that is able to link the entirety of the speech together for them to be able to comprehend the statement. Otherwise, they might have difficulties in understanding the respective arguments. For instance, when a person gives a speech concerning the negative impacts of drugs for the society in general and he explains about why is addiction harmful, however, there is no conclusion regarding the issue, the audience may wonder the correlation between drugs being addictive with harming the society, and this is able to potentially lessen the amount of people convinced. Conclusions provide an overview of the arguments and there are those who need to be reminded of the previous points within the specific arguments in order for them to be able to fathom the entire arguments; this is important due to the reason that people are not considered to be convinced when they do not understand the statements.

Lastly, rebut the core idea of the opponent rather than the insignificant details. Rebuttals are one of the most important features in debating; it is when individuals are able to deny the accountability of the opinions coming from the other parties, stating that their arguments are incorrect. In order to win a debate, effective rebuttals are necessary; to do so, prioritize in rebutting the most important points of the opponent, which is the most talked about issue during the debate, because they are the strongest cases of the opponent. During the scenario in which the opponent spends five minutes explaining that the United States should lift the embargo of Cuba because it is within the interest of the United States and two minutes in elaborating about the sufferings of Cuba’s society, it is advised to focus in rebutting the first argument as it is the primary case of the opponent. From the perception of Chris Cillizza, a writer for The Washington Post during 2012, President Obama won the 2012 presidential debate against Mitt Romney due to Obama’s success in rebutting Romney’s primary argument concerning foreign policies while Romney did not respond to Obama’s main case concerning Libya; that implies that effective rebuttals are indeed essential, to the extent in determining the winning point.

In conclusion, in order to deliver an effective and convincing argument during a debate, it is important to be able to categorize the type of the topic and provide reliable evidences to support the arguments to convince other parties better, as well as to include conclusions to ensure that the arguments are able to be comprehended better as understandings are crucial in convincing individuals. In the case of responding to the opponent’s arguments, rebut their primary cases and prioritize the arguments that they spent the most time on. The success in abiding by those steps are able to, at the very least, enhance one’s debating capability, either during formal or informal occasions.

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