1. China Debate Education Network Combining Arguments Coherently

2. Combining Claims A case can be a single claim, but more likely, it is a series of claims. Even a single primary claim ordinarily is supported by a series of sub-claims. The extent to which sub-claims are combined into a coherent whole is an indication of the argument’s strength and persuasiveness.

3. Developing a Concrete Pattern for Combining Claims Having a pattern that can be used to combine sub-claims into primary claims is useful. This lesson presents one such pattern. Our recommendation is that debaters internalize this pattern, then they can go on to develop patterns which suit them.

4. The Basic Pattern Describe or Define Associate Evaluate

5. The Pattern Explained Define or describe. – What person, institution, or policy is going to be evaluated? – What are the features of that person, institution, or policy? Associate – Create an association between those features and some value, principle, or consequence. – Cause and effect association or association by similarity. Evaluate – Create an explicit evaluation of the feature of the person, institution, or policy – Explicit evaluation gives the argument more power

6. Primary Claim of Value Using Consequences

7. Example: Claim of Value Using Consequences

8. Primary Claim of Policy Using Consequences

9. Example: Claim of Policy Using Consequences

10. Value Claim Using Principles

11. Example: Value Claim Using Principles

12. Policy Claim Using Principles

13. Example: Policy Claim Using Principles