The theory and practice of argumentation and debate

by Victor Alvin Ketcham

SUMMARY OF ESSENTIAL STEPS IN ANALYSIS

1. A broad view of the subject.

2. The origin and history of the question.

3. Definition of terms.

4. Narrowing the question.

(1) Excluding irrelevant matter.

(2) Admitting matters not vital to the argument.

5. Contrasting the affirmative arguments with those of the negative.

III. The main issues.

The process of analysis with which we are dealing has revealed the main issues of the proposition. It now becomes the duty of the debater to arrange the issues in logical and climactic order. The most forcible array of argument should come at the end. For example, in the question just analyzed the logical as well as the climactic order of arrangement for the main issues on the affirmative would be as follows: