Analysis - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Analysis

OH YEAHSlide2

Recap

Small child asking you whySlide3

What is analysis?

Internal aims of analysis:

1. Prove argument is true

2. Prove argument is important

External (strategic) aims of analysis:

1. Make the argument strong enough that it is invulnerable to attack

2. Substantiate the argument to the degree that the other team on your side cannot offer superior substantiation of it – e.g. in the form of an “analysis extension”

3. Meet judge’s subjective standard of having “sufficiently analysed” the point such that it “stands” absent any competent responses

4. Make argument seem comparatively more important than other argumentsSlide4

Three Sections

Section 1: “Why Gareth always yells at me in International Relations rounds”

Section 2: “I have 15 reasons why torture is mean”

Section 3: “My analysis will itself apart”Slide5

1. Why Gareth always yells at me in International Relations rounds

So I gradually came to realise when I was speaking with Gareth that sometimes me feeling demoralised going into a debate was a good sign

It meant Gareth had been growling at me for ignorance

When you make Gareth growl, he growls relevant facts about the world Slide6

Why Gareth always yells at me in International Relations rounds

Gareth: Well, Israel will go mental if this happens and invade everyone

Me

: What, why would Israel go mental?

Gareth

: The nationalists would have a field day

Me

: But aren’t the nationalists a tiny minority

Gareth

: Well no, Andrew, but even if they were, Israel’s PR system gives them massive amounts of power

Me

: Why would they have a field day

? It’s just a bit of aid

Gareth

: Isn’t it obvious? Israeli nationalism is tied to the idea the world’s against it, and that they’re under threat

Me

: Okay, but they’d still have loads of guns, right?

Gareth

: That doesn’t matter, pea brain. They have no strategic depth!

Me

:

Riiiighhht

…Slide7

Gareth: Israel is really small!

Me: Oh, I see… Nope, I still don’t get it.

Gareth: Sigh… They’re easy to conquer. You can get to their cities easily.

Me: Oh, okay, but what about nukes. Couldn’t they use nukes.

Gareth: That’s the whole point, you absolute cretin. They need more territory to be able to use short range tactical nukes.

Me: Okay, but if that’s true I still don’t get why they wouldn’t just go mental even without us removing the aid

Gareth: Have you ever, like, read a newspaper?! The U.S. underwrites their security with the promise they’ll send fighters over Jerusalem in the event of invasion and because they have a consistent source of funding for their militarySlide8

The point here is that the best partnerships are looking to use prep time to make their arguments as strong as possible

The best way to do this is to fill in the holes before they’ve been picked

You can’t do that by accident, you need to systematically attack them – by one person explaining the argument and the other forcing them to clarify deficits in explanation and trying to rebut the point.

You then tailor the analysis you give to dealing with those responses.

You also force your partner to explain things they may think are obvious

Don’t do this sometimes. Do this always.Slide9

You don’t need to explicitly

prebut

things in your analysis. You would just say something like:

“Israel is really small, and so lacks strategic depth. What that means is that a conquering force can take the cities very quickly. Moreover, Israel would need more territory in order to plausibly use its short range tactical nukes. The reason this isn’t a problem under the status quo is that America underwrites Israel’s security with their air-force…”

etc

etc

Implicitly deal with a lot of the confusions stupid Andrew had.Slide10

2. “I have 15 reasons why torture is mean”

You will rarely need 15 reasons why torture is mean. Inadequate substantiation of the fact that torture is mean is unlikely to be the reason why you don’t win a debate.

Remember, the internal aims of analysis?: prove truth and importance.

What you need to recognise is that truth and importance aren’t always of equal importance in an argument

Too often we see substantiation for the wrong part of the argumentSlide11

Baby Burdens

Like burdens, only smaller

Our aim is to link a contentious statement to a non-contentious statement – e.g. everyone agrees with the proposition “we should not do things that genocide” so if you link that statement successfully to “THW give amnesties combatants in post-conflict societies”, the argument will stand

Ask yourself which bit(s) of the argument is/are contentious

You should direct your analysis towards thoseSlide12

Examples – True, Important or Both

THW bring back the death penalty

Argument:

Deterrence – this will prevent more murders.

This argument is obviously important if it’s true, so the purpose of our analysis is to provide reasons why it will deter, otherwise you’re not persuading the judge of anything she didn’t already believe

Argument:

This violates criminal’s right to life.

By contrast, this argument is self-apparently true, but its importance isn’t obvious.Slide13

Some to try

THW legalise drugs

Argument: Individuals gain access to a set of experiences they might not otherwise be able gain

Argument: Individual

c

hoice is maximised under the prop model

Argument: There will be less drug addiction under the prop modelSlide14

3. My analysis will tear you apart: Sub-Pointing – what is it and why is it important?

Benefits to sub-pointing:

a) Easier for you to follow your own speech if you’re hitting certain points at certain times

b) Easier for judge to follow all the analysis you’re giving

c) Forces you to come up with more than one reason why something is true

d) Ticks boxes with judges. Hard for them to think you haven’t substantiated a point if you’ve given multiple reasons why it’s true

e) Takes away analysis extensions

f) We inevitably make more than three arguments in a debate, but sometimes there are only one or two overarching burdens towards which we are directing our analysisSlide15

Cautionary note:

Make sure it’s not assertive

While a sub-point might be written on your page as a couple of words, it may take up to a minute to explain in some cases. Sub-points are essentially arguments.

Some sub-points will have their own sub-pointsSlide16

Example

Motion:

TH supports politicians who pass progressive legislation, even where this is contrary to the wishes of the democratic

electorate

Claim: It is legitimate to override majoritarian democracy

Slide17

Your page

A) Certain groups lack access to the political process creates self-perpetuating and undemocratic cycle

i

)

villification

ii) lack of money

B) Democracy is an instrumental good

C) To the extent that democracy is intrinsically good, benefit is in maximising choice and freedom of expression

D) People constructed into beliefs by powerful state – nothing intrinsic to that part of

world which makes them abuse minorities

E) Massive harms to minorities > preferences of majority

etc

etc.