Rebutting in a Debate

We all remember our building block format for giving a speech

Several classes ago, we also discussed the idea of rebuttal: responding to the previous speaker and explaining why their points are not correct This goes before our substantive reasoning

When you’re delivering rebuttal, you need to do three things:

Pinpoint

Pinpoint: quickly refer to the other’s person’s argument. This is so the judge knows what part of their speech you are talking about. You want to keep this short, because you want to save your time for actually responding!

Reasoning

Reasoning: explain why their point isn’t true. The best rebuttal has multiple reasons that attack the point in different ways

Summarize

Summarize: explain to the judge what it means for the debate, now that their point doesn’t stand.