Simplified Lincoln Douglas Debate Case Outline
Affirmative / Negative
(Circle One)
(Introductory Quote)
It is because I agree with (author and qualifications)
in the position that (main idea of the Quote)
that I feel compelled to affirm / negate today’s resolution, Resolved:
The highest value within today’s round is
(The value)
is defined as
(The value)
___ is most important in today’s round because
The best criterion for evaluating this resolution is
(This criterion) __________________________ is defined as
It best achieves my value of
because
In (affirming / negating) the resolution, I offer the following contentions:
Contention 1: (First claim here – a complete sentence)
Contention II: (Second claim here – a complete sentence
Contention III (Third claim here – a complete sentence
______________________________________________________________
Contention 1: Repeat you first contention tag here; (Claim) This is your opinion
statement:
Warrant: what reasons do you have for making this claim? what evidence do you
have to support this claim? what further explanation of this idea can you give to
clarify your position?)
(Impact: how does this claim affect your value or criterion, or the resolution
itself?)
Contention I1: (Claim)
(Warrant: what reasons do you have for making this claim? what evidence do you
have to support this claim? what further explanation of this idea can you give to
clarify your position?)
(Impact: how does this claim affect your value or criterion, or the resolution
itself?)
Contention II1: (Claim)
(Warrant: what reasons do you have for making this claim? what evidence do you
have to support this claim? what further explanation of this idea can you give to
clarify your position?)
(Impact: how does this claim affect your value or criterion, or the resolution
itself?)
Conclusion:
I have shown you that (Contention I)
__________________________________________________________________,
(Contention II)
_____________________________________________________________, and
(Contention III)
__________________________________________________________________
For these reasons, we can clearly conclude that (value) ________________ should
be upheld and that we should affirm / negate this resolution.
(restate the resolution or the negation of the resolution) ______
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________