Debate Project Outline
The debate project will be graded on two major components.
1. The argumentative essay (20 pts for the Rough Draft, 40 pts for the Final Draft)
2. The debate (50 pts)
The Essay
Getting your thoughts organized will make your debates go much smoother. To help with
this, you will be writing an essay arguing your position on your debate topic. This essay
must be a minimum of 5 paragraphs.
1. Introduction- Here you outline your topic and briefly describe your position. You
will then outline the organization of the essay to follow.
2. Argument 1- This paragraph will be dedicated to explaining the first argument that
supports your position. To back up this argument, you will need to include at least on
piece of evidence.
3. Argument 2- This paragraph will explain your second argument. This should be a
stronger argument than the one in your previous paragraph. You will need to include
at least one piece of evidence.
4. Argument 3- This is your final and strongest argument. Include at least one piece of
evidence.
5. Conclusion- In the conclusion you will sum up your arguments, leaving your final
points in the reader’s mind as to why you are right. A rough draft of your essay will
be due on Monday, October 13th.
Writing a good essay will help you when it comes to debate, because you will have already
thought out and organized all your arguments. A rough draft of your essay will be due
Thursday, October 9th. A final draft of your essay will be due Tuesday, October 14th.
Schedule:
Tuesday, October 7—Research information for introduction, arguments 1-3, and conclusion
(get everything you need to write your rough draft!—this is our only day for research).
Wednesday, October 8—Write rough drafts in classroom
Thursday, October 9—Finish Rough Drafts—due by end the end of the day (with per editing)
Friday, October 10—Start typing final drafts (peer editing if not finished)
Monday, October 13—Type final draft, add details
Tuesday, October 14th—Finish Rough Drafts—due by the end of 6th hour, begin getting
ready for speech
Wednesday October 15th-Sunday, October 19th—practice speeches
Monday, October 20th—Begin speeches
Tuesday, October 21st—ISU field trip
Wednesday, October 22nd-Friday, October 24th—finish speeches in class.
The Debate
The debates will follow an organized schedule and will be timed. The total time available for
each debate will be 12 minutes, which means that each person will have a total of 6 minutes.
You will not be given more than 5 minutes total, but you do not want to leave very much of
that time unused. The pieces of the debate include…
1. The Opening-each side will give an opening that explains what the issue is and what
position their side supports. Remember, your classmates will be watching, so you
want to start strong.
2. Arguments- Both sides will present arguments as to why their side has the best
position. You will include the evidence that you found in your research to back up
these arguments.
3. Rebuttal- Both sides will use rebuttals to attack the arguments given by the other side
of the debate.
4. Closing- Each side will finish with a closing that sums up their arguments as to why
their side holds the correct position on the debate topic.
As you can see, the structure of the debates is very similar to the structure of the essays you
will be writing. Next week there will be a handout that details the order and time limits for
each section of the debate. We will also schedule the order the order of these debates next
week.