Speech Love 3: Debate Case Construction Tips with YuYu Yuan

We are gearing up for the National Speech and Debate Tournament on Speech Love!  Today we explore some ideas for improving debate case construction with Cheyenne East senior and good friend of the podcast, YuYu Yuan.  

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Transcript

Speech Love 3: Debate Case Construction Tips with YuYu Yuan

Greetings, friends!  Lyle Wiley here - a high school EnglishTeacher and Speech and Debate Coach in Thermopolis, Wyoming - and your host of the One Clap Speech and Debate Podcast!  
Welcome to episode three of Speech Love.  We are gearing up for Nationals, and we’re going to explore some ideas for improving debate case construction with Cheyenne East senior and good friend of the podcast, YuYu Yuan.  

I should have more Speech Love goodies on the way soon.  I recently interviewed Ashley Schulz and Dani Schulz who provided some top rate interpretative suggestions for Supplemental Events that I NEED to share with you all asap.  This is some super great content to help coaches and competitors prepare for Supplemental Events at the Virtual 2021 National Speech and Debate Tournament.  

The end of the school year is coming quickly, and I hope to have more time to work on the podcast - along with a couple of other projects in the works that I’m still developing.

On today’s episode, the talented YuYu Yuan provides some great insights and tips about case construction for debaters.  This could be especially useful for students competing in debate events at Nationals or venturing into the Pro/Con Supplemental Event Challenge… or even dipping their toes into Extemporaneous Debate at the National Tournament.

Want to develop better debate AFFs and NEGs?  Tune in, because YuYu is on the case!  


And at this episode I'll be sharing my top 5 tips for constructing a case just a little disclosure before I begin Beast of us will apply more towards public forum debate Lincoln Douglas debate little bit of congressional debate and extemporaneous debate for those of you thinking about doing it as a supplemental event at Nationals for the first few tips that all apply to almost all of the debate events including policy debate and for the rest I will try to specify it down to the events I listed and hopefully it won't be too confusing my first tip for you all is to do lots and lots of research or as much of it as you can at the very least you want to know the basics of what your resolution is asking you to do as a general information associated with the topic this is for two reasons first research helps you understand the topic better so you have a better idea of what you want to argue and second you will also have an idea of what your opponent will potentially rotten this can give you an edge when you're constructing your case and when I mean by that is you can preemptively plan a case that already addresses some of the points your opponents will bring up while research can be a lot of work especially during the school year and along with the other activities you might be doing it will be 100% worth it in the end goal you should have when researching is to know the stock or generic arguments on both sides of the topic if you find an argument that is unique you can choose to go down that path and find your way towards an amazing argument no one knows how to handle however be mindful when making that decision because instead of leading you toward a worthwhile Adventure it might actually just lead you down a rabbit hole and set once you have gathered the information I can help you make a more informed decision choosing which arguments to put in your case my second is to organize all the research you found into an outline of your case this tip is especially helpful and not only guiding where you're going to go with the case but also with further in your research process to research is keep but without an idea of how everything connects to each other to form an argument then it's pretty useless especially when it comes to a debate round that's why when you have a pretty good idea of most of the arguments on both sides than this is where you can pick and choose the strongest arguments to run as your case generally speaking I'll put the arguments that I understand the best because it should help me explain that argument well this makes the actual case construction process easier because if I have an idea of how my argument applies to the resolution why is important to the debate and the negative or positive impacts you can have that I can construct a very convincing case another thing to keep in mind is if you're on a time crunch and don't have very much time to research everything first and if you're indecisive like I am getting general information and making an outline will guide your research process and make it much more smoother than just looking for brandom arguments on the internet my third trip is to make your case story like and when I mean by this is to make the k sound like a story or narrative you're trying to tell not like fantasy story with multiple characters and all that jazz but a storyline that's clear and concise rhetorically for Lay judges and more technical judges alike it makes sense and is convincing usually each contention. Just follow the outline of having a tide or title of your arguments one or a couple of pieces of evidence as the warrant and lastly a piece of evidence as your impact what I mean by warrant is evidence that explains how the argument connects to both the resolution and the impact that you have this is usually why the Warren part of the case of multiple pieces of evidence think of this part like the body paragraph of a formal opinion essay the impact is the part of your case that gives your argument significance in the round it also helps you out later on in the round with impact calculus and which you have to compare your argument to your opponents however you should also have the goal of making the case as a whole cohesive especially if you have multiple contentions you should also think about including analysis that will link everything together and make it sound more like than this is useful in a lot of rounds especially in pfld or even extemp debate rounds where judges want a slower Pace but also a cohesive story my fourth step is after you're done constructing a case with your Blood Sweat and Tears read it out loud and time it this is useful for a couple of reasons first you'll read or hear grammatical errors you can cracked and second reading it over multiple times to help not only with how you sound when reading it but also with the timing I know I would hate to read a case that's either over or under time so this helps to make sure you're using your time efficiently furthermore being able to read the case officially but also persuasively which takes some practice can make or break around your coaches your partner yourself your teammates your family honestly anyone so they could potentially give you some feedback you sound or some wording of sentences to I don't have much else to say on this point in particular because it is a final step to constructing your case and making sure everything is as perfect as can be my last and final tip for you all is if this plan doesn't work out for you then you can experiment as you go it doesn't always have to follow a set or clear structure when in the process of writing a case just make sure the end result is something that is cohesive logical persuasive and understandable you could research has ego and experiment with what works best for you there multiple arguments out there for each topic and multiple ways to write and construct them to I'm 100% confident that you'll be able to do it no matter what it takes thank you all for listening and see you later 


Thanks so much to YuYu for her helpful and genius debate case construction tips.  YuYu will definitely be back to share her knowledge and insight with us soon on One Clap - and we are so thankful for her hard work to help our speech and debate community thrive.

If you have an idea or a request for One Clap Speech and Debate, shoot me an email at lylewiley@gmail.com or reach out on the One Clap Speech and Debate Podcast website or social media - linked in the show notes.

This Year, maybe consider supporting One Clap Speech and Debate by checking out our patreon page linked in the show notes.  You can partner with me on this journey for as little as 1 dollar a month and stop patronage at any time!  Thanks to our patrons: Terry, Tina, Melissa, Brenda, Aaron, Beth, Laura, Ashley, Marcus, Londe, and Debbie!

Hey, you should check out One Clap merch too - linked on the top of the website.  We’re working with bonfire to provide merch for folks via some awesome designs my wife - Amie Wiley - creates for the podcast. 

You like One Clap Speech and Debate?  Help us grow and help more coaches and competitors!  Tell a friend and encourage them to check out an episode or two!  Be sure to watch for new episodes of One Clap, Rock On! Debate, Coach Connection, and Speech Love.

Thank you for listening, best of luck to everyone out there preparing for the National Speech and Debate Tournament!