By the Equality in Forensics Contributor Team
A PF case introduces contentions to support their advocacy for or against the resolution. This page will teach you the argumentation skills necessary to make contentions and establish an advocacy.
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When beginning research for a topic, you need to establish what you know about the topic and what you need to find out. The best way to get a good understanding of the topic is to read as much literature as you can about both sides. You can create a general research doc with your partner to help with this.
Don’t immediately pick a strategy
Research the topic a bit before you start developing arguments. Think about the trends you are noticing and use the literature you read to form argument ideas.
Stock Arguments
When developing a case, many teams write “stock” or common arguments. Most teams will know stock arguments because the evidence is more accessible, so they will have more responses to the argument. These types of arguments focus on the core benefits or problems of the topic.
<aside> <img src="/icons/star-outline_red.svg" alt="/icons/star-outline_red.svg" width="40px" /> A way that many teams enhance a stock argument is by creating a nuanced stock argument, in which stock argument contains a nuanced or unusual link.
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Squirrelly Arguments
Another strategy that teams will use is running “squirrelly” or less common/true arguments. These are arguments your opponents may have less responses prepared for. However, it might be easier for your opponents to create analytical responses, and any given response could take out the entire contention because of the quality of the argument.
If you decide to run this kind of argument, make sure the evidence is good and make sure your impact is weighable.