Arguments + Cards

Summary

In this video, Miss Trip introduces the Toolman model for constructing arguments, essential for all debate formats. She explains the four key components: claim, support, warrant, and impact. The claim states the position, support provides evidence like stats or expert testimony, the warrant connects support to the claim, and impact explains the argument's significance. Miss Trip also discusses 'cutting cards,' the process of condensing evidence into a debate-friendly format, and assigns viewers to cut cards on the economy's state.

Takeaways

• 📝 The Toolman model is an academic standard for constructing arguments, commonly taught in persuasion classes.
• 💄 An argument is composed of a claim, support, warrant, and impact.
• 💄 A claim is a basic statement of the argument or position one is taking.
• 📝 Support material is used to back up the claim and can include stats, surveys, expert testimony, examples, studies, personal experiences, analogies, or audio/visual aids.
• 💄 The warrant explains how the support material proves the claim, making the connection between the two explicit.
• 💄 The impact justifies the relevance and importance of the argument within the context of a debate.
• 📝 In debate rounds, arguments are often supported with 'cards', which are pieces of evidence presented in a structured format.
• 📝 A 'card' includes a tag (the claim), an oral citation, a full source citation, and the part to be read aloud during the debate.
• 💄 The process of cutting cards involves summarizing evidence into a concise format suitable for quick reference in a debate.
• 📝 The assignment given is to cut two cards: one arguing that the economy is improving and another that it is getting worse, focusing on steps one and two of argument construction.

Q & A

What is the Toolman model mentioned in the video?

The Toolman model is an academic standard for constructing an argument. It includes a claim, data, and a warrant or backing for the data. In debate, it is often simplified to just these components, with the addition of an impact.

What is the purpose of a claim in an argument?

A claim is a basic statement of the argument that states the position one is taking. It is the side of the argument that the person intends to prove, but it does not prove anything by itself.

How can one support their argument?

Support for an argument can come from various sources such as statistics, surveys, polls, expert testimony, examples, studies, personal experience, analogies, descriptions, explanations, or audio/visual aids.

What is the role of the warrant in an argument?

The warrant connects the claim and the support material. It explains how the chosen support material proves that the claim is true. It's a necessary part of the argument even if it seems obvious.

Why is the impact important in a debate argument?

The impact is important because it shows why the argument matters or why it is important. It helps to ensure that the argument is relevant to the debate round and convinces the judge why they should care about the argument.

What is meant by 'cutting cards' in the context of debate?

Cutting cards refers to the process of taking a piece of evidence, such as an article, and formatting it into a concise piece that can be used in a debate round. This includes a tag (the claim), an oral citation, and a source citation.

What does the term 'card' refer to in debate?

In debate, a 'card' is a piece of evidence used to support an argument. Historically, this was an index card with written information, but now it refers to any formatted piece of evidence, often digital.

How does the speaker suggest practicing argument construction?

The speaker suggests watching a video on how to cut cards and then practicing by cutting two cards: one arguing that the economy is improving and another arguing the opposite.

What are the different types of evidence that can be used to support an argument?

The different types of evidence include statistics, surveys, polls, expert testimony, examples, studies, personal experience, analogies, descriptions, explanations, and audio/visual aids.

What is the structure of a card in debate?

A card in debate typically includes a tag (the claim), an oral citation (to be read aloud during the debate), and a full source citation (for additional details). The card is designed to be concise and relevant to the argument being made.

What is the assignment given by the speaker at the end of the video?

The assignment is to watch a video on how to cut cards and then to cut two cards on one's own: one card arguing that the economy is improving and another arguing that the economy is getting worse.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Argument Structure

The paragraph introduces the concept of argumentation in debate formats such as Congress, LD, Policy, and PF. It explains the Toolman model, which is an academic standard for constructing an argument. The model includes a claim, support, warrant, and impact. The claim is the statement of the argument, support provides evidence such as statistics, expert testimony, examples, studies, personal experience, analogies, or visual aids. The warrant connects the support to the claim, showing how the evidence proves the argument's truth. The impact explains why the argument is significant. The paragraph uses the example of LeBron James being the best basketball player of all time to illustrate these components.

05:02

📝 The Importance of Warrants and Impact

This paragraph discusses the necessity of stating warrants and impacts in debate arguments. A warrant is the logical connection between the support material and the claim, proving why the evidence supports the argument. The impact justifies the relevance of the argument in the debate round. The speaker uses the example of LeBron James' scoring record to argue his status as the best basketball player, emphasizing the need to establish why this claim matters. The paragraph also touches on the historical practice of using index cards for evidence, which has evolved into the modern practice of 'cutting cards' for debate rounds.

10:02

🖋️ Cutting Cards for Debate

The final paragraph focuses on the practical aspect of preparing for debates by cutting cards. A card represents a piece of evidence or support material for an argument. The speaker instructs viewers to cut two cards: one arguing that the economy is improving and another arguing the opposite. The process involves summarizing an article or source into a format that includes a claim (tag), oral citation, and the part of the source to be read aloud during the debate. The speaker provides a link for further instruction on cutting cards and assigns the task as a practice exercise.

Keywords

💡Argument

An argument is a statement or group of statements intended to establish a proposition or demonstrate a point. In the context of the video, an argument is the foundation of debate, regardless of the format. The script describes how to construct an argument using the Toulmin model, which includes making a claim, providing support, warranting the support, and stating the impact.

💡Claim

A claim is a statement of fact or belief that is central to an argument. It is the position one takes on a particular topic. The video script uses the example of 'all schools should require students to wear uniforms' as a claim, which is the starting point of the argument that the speaker intends to prove.

💡Support

Support in an argument refers to the evidence or reasons provided to back up the claim. The script mentions various forms of support material such as statistics, surveys, expert testimony, examples, studies, personal experiences, analogies, and visual aids. Support is crucial as it provides the basis for the argument's validity.

💡Warrant

A warrant in argumentation is the assumption that connects the support material to the claim, explaining why the support is relevant and sufficient to prove the claim. The script gives an example where being the NBA all-time leading scorer is used as support for the claim that LeBron James is the best basketball player of all time, with the warrant being the assumption that scoring points is a key determinant of being the best player.

💡Impact

Impact in the context of debate refers to the significance or consequence of an argument. It is the reason why the argument matters. The script suggests that even if one can prove that LeBron James is the best basketball player, they must also explain why this fact is important, such as him being a role model for young athletes.

💡Toolman Model

The Toolman Model is an academic standard for constructing arguments. It includes elements such as a claim, data (support), warrant, and impact. The video script uses this model to explain the basic structure of an argument in a debate setting.

💡Debate

Debate is a formal discussion on a particular topic in which opposing arguments are put forward. The video script focuses on how to make an argument within the context of debate, emphasizing the importance of structure and evidence.

💡Evidence

Evidence in an argument is the information used to support a claim. The script discusses how evidence can come in various forms and is crucial for backing up an argument. It also explains how evidence is presented in a debate round, often referred to as 'cards'.

💡Card

In debate terminology, a 'card' is a piece of evidence, often an excerpt from a source, that supports a claim. The script describes the process of 'cutting cards', which involves summarizing a source into a format that can be quickly referenced during a debate round.

💡Citation

A citation in the context of debate is a reference to the source of evidence. The script explains that when presenting a card in a debate, one must provide an oral citation to give credit to the source and a full citation for further reference.

💡LeBron James

LeBron James is used as an example in the script to illustrate how to construct an argument. He is a professional basketball player whose achievements and skills are used to argue that he is the best player of all time, demonstrating the use of claims, support, and warrants.

Highlights

Introduction to the Toolman model as the academic standard for constructing an argument.

Explanation of the basic components of an argument: claim, data, warrant, and impact.

The necessity of making a clear claim to state one's position in an argument.

Importance of providing data or evidence to back up the claim in an argument.

The role of a warrant in connecting the data to the claim to prove the argument's validity.

The concept of impact and why it's crucial to demonstrate the relevance of an argument.

Examples of claims and how they set the stage for proving an argument.

Various types of support material that can be used to strengthen an argument.

The significance of using stats, surveys, and expert testimony as support material.

How personal experience or stories can be utilized as evidence in certain arguments.

The use of analogies, comparisons, and descriptions to explain and support an argument.

The allowance of audio and visual aids in debate as a form of support material.

The process of cutting cards or using evidence in debate rounds.

Historical context of 'cards' in debate and the transition to digital formats.

The structure of a card including the tag, oral citation, and source citation.

The importance of minimizing evidence for timed debate speeches.

Assignment to cut two cards: one arguing the economy is improving and one arguing it's getting worse.

Instruction to watch a video on how to cut cards and to practice cutting cards independently.

Transcripts

all right hello ladies this is Miss trip

here and in this video we're going to

talk a little bit about how to make an

argument which of course as you know an

argument is the basis of all debate no

matter what format you're doing Congress

LD policy PF they are all based on

arguments so I'm going to start here

with this image this is called the

toolman

model this is kind of the academic

standard of what makes an argument so if

you take a persuasion class in college

you'll probably see the toolman model

so this is the basics of an argument you

have to make a claim you have to State

your position okay you have to give data

and you have to have a

warrant or backing for that data okay so

this is kind of a it has a bunch of

other parts to it as well but in debate

we usually simplify it down to just

these okay and then we add this down

here the impact so let me go through

those so the first is a claim a claim is

just a basic statement of the argument

okay so for example if I have this first

claim all schools should require

students to wear uniforms that is a

claim that is the position that I am

taking on school uniforms okay have I

proven anything yet no I've just stated

the claim I've stated the the side of

the argument that I'm going to take this

is what I intend to prove all schools

should require students to wear uniforms

LeBron James is the best basketball

player of all time all of these are

claims you're not proving anything yet

but you're stating your argument

okay step two is support you have to

back up that argument okay if I just

make a claim LeBron James is the best

basketball player of all time I haven't

proven anything okay that's just step

one if all you have as a claim you don't

really have an argument and that

argument can't really stand up in a

debate round okay so the second thing we

have to do is support your argument okay

how can we support an argument well

we're going to need support material so

we could back it up with stats or

surveys or polls maybe I have stats

about um how many times LeBron James has

scored okay maybe I have expert

testimony or quotes So maybe I find a

basketball expert who says why he or she

thinks LeBron James is the best I could

give examples I could say for example

LeBron James has won X number of NBA

championships I could cite studies or

scholarly research or empirical tests I

don't know if these exist for LeBron

James but generally in debate this is a

very strong type of evidence when you

have studies or academic research on a

topic

you could give personal experience or

tell a story about yourself so maybe I

could tell a story about how you know I

met LeBron James and he was awesome or

something obviously depending on the

argument that you're making this might

not be the strongest type of support

material okay in some instances um

personal experience can be a strong way

to support an argument but not

always you can use analogies or

comparisons maybe I could compare LeBron

James to Michael Jordan you could use

description or explanation maybe I could

describe the way LeBron James shoots a

basketball and explain how that's the

best and you can also use audio or

visual aids maybe I have a video

of uh Lebron James or something like

that okay in debate we tend not to see a

lot of audio or visual aids but they are

technically

allowed so I'm going to have some

support material that's step two to back

up my claim okay

step three is the warrant

how does your support that you have

chosen prove that the argument is

true and this is kind of um hard

sometimes because it just seems obvious

right so I have this example

here my claim is LeBron James is the

best basketball player of all time my

support is he is the NBA all-time

leading scorer okay so the warrant makes

the connection the connection between

the claim and the support material how

does the support material that I have

chosen prove that the claim is true okay

so see see for a second if you could

figure out what my warrant here would

be the warrant here maybe it's hard just

because it's so simple I would need to

prove or make the argument that being

the alltime leading scorer makes you the

best basketball player of all time right

because maybe my opponent could say well

this other basketball player actually

has more rebounds than LeBron James okay

so then their warrant would be that like

being the best rebounder makes you a

better basketball player so I need to

prove that being the all-time leading

scorer is the best way or the best

metric for how to evaluate if you're the

best basketball

player again sometimes you might think

the warrant is so obvious that you don't

need to State it but in debate we do

want to state that warrant even if you

think it's

obvious so step four is the impact you

need to prove why does this argument

matter okay um regarding LeBron James I

honestly don't quite know what my impact

to that argument would be maybe my

impact would be and therefore he should

be a role model for your sons and

daughters who play sports something like

that but basically in debate rounds we

need to make sure that we State the

impact so the impact states why the

argument matters or why the argument is

important so basically why does this

argument matter in this debate round

sometimes you might be making arguments

that literally just don't matter okay so

that's why we need the impact to make

sure that what we're saying actually

matters in the debate round so you need

to tell the judge in a debate round why

they should care about this argument

okay

okay so in debate the way that we make

most of these

arguments is with evidence or using

cards in a debate

round

so okay so now we're going to talk about

how to cut cards or use evidence in

debate so it's kind of a confusing term

why we call it a card a card is just a

piece of evidence so remember we just

talked about support material right you

have to support your argument with

evidence okay back in the day before

everyone had computers you would

literally write your information on

index cards and you would carry them you

know and lay them out for the debate

rounds so people would say do you have a

card on that and a card would literally

be an index card nowadays we obviously

don't write down all of our stuff on

index index cards we still call them

cards but it looks more like this okay

so this is an article I have found

online an article about

decriminalization of drugs okay and I've

put it into this format that I can use

in a debate round and that's what we

call a card okay so I have this text

here this information from the

article I have what's called a tag up

here the tag tag is basically the claim

okay this is the claim or the argument

that I'm making and I am proving it with

this evidence okay and during the round

I also have a citation that I would read

out loud to say where that information

came

from so I have um this information here

of the process of cutting

cards I would encourage you to look

through this but the next YouTube video

actually kind of just shows you this

process so here is what it should look

like um we have the tag here in bigger

font we have the oral citation that's

the citation that you would read out

loud during the debate round to tell the

judge where you got this Source we have

the rest of the source citation

here to give all of the information

about where the source came from we're

not going to read all of this out loud

but we're going to have it with us um in

case somebody says hey what's what's the

name of that article or can you give me

more details on the source this is where

you would have that and then this is the

part that you would read out loud in the

debate round and in particular we have

it highlighted to make it shorter okay

as you know each speech is timed so you

don't have all the time in the world so

we've taken this long article and we

have minimized it down to just this part

that we would read in a debate

round so this is what I would like you

to do first I would like you to watch

the next video about how to cut a card

and then your assignment before the next

practice is to cut two cards I want you

to cut one card that says the economy is

improving and I want you to cut one card

that says the opposite a card that says

that the economy is getting worse now

all your doing here when you're doing

this is you're kind of just doing steps

one and two right you're making a claim

the economy is getting better and you

are supporting this argument with um

something you have found probably online

a newspaper article a website Etc okay

so you're not necessarily doing steps

three or four yet okay in a debate round

you would probably just say out loud why

does it matter if the econom e omy is

getting better or why does it matter if

the economy is getting worse so the next

thing I want you to do is to go to

Canvas and I have a link here for how to

cut cards you're going to watch that and

then you are actually going to cut two

cards on your own