4.06 page 2 Argument Overview

A Congressional Debate speech has three goals:

1. Educate. An effective speech educates the audience in some unique way. Each speech in Congress should bring something new to the table: a new argument, a piece of evidence not previously cited, a new spin on an old argument, or a refutation of an opposing argument.

2. Engage. An effective speech will engage the audience. Neither judges nor competitors want to listen to a boring speaker, so presenting an interesting speech is important. An interesting speech begins with the introduction, which must grab the attention of the audience in a meaningful way, and continues with the body of the speech, which must effectively employ a variety of tones to keep the audience interested. Finally, it ends with the conclusion, which must compellingly summarize the argument.

3. Persuade. Convincing the audience that a position is correct is important. Debaters persuade both through compelling content and effective style. A persuasive speech makes arguments that are well-delivered and full of well-reasoned content.

You'll recall from earlier in the course that a complete argument contains:

• a claim, or the basic idea of the argument;

• a warrant, or an explanation why the claim is true;

• data, or evidence; and

• an impact, or a reason why the argument is important.

These elements should be present in all forms of argumentation. They are especially important in verbal argumentation because the audience must be able to follow the argument. In written argumentation, readers may absorb and process the argument at their own pace; if they are confused, they can reread a passage or sentence. In verbal argumentation, the audience (and the speaker) only have one chance at comprehension. Each of these elements ought to be presented in a very specific way in order to enhance the audience’s understanding (and, by extension, their likelihood of agreeing with the speaker).