Structure for Class presentations : Debates

No Date Motion Groups Materials

1 30 August This house believes that the Group 1 – Refer to
“Badges of Trade” test is Proposition Seminar 2
useless.
Group 2-
Opposition

2 20 This house believes that Group 3 – Refer to

September provisions like s.33 of the Proposition Seminar 3
Income Tax Act Cap.134 of
Singapore serve to protect the Group 4 –
national revenue and should be Opposition
upheld and applied more
frequently.

3 4 October This house believes that the Group 5 – Refer to

“permanent establishment” is a Proposition Seminar 4
totally outdated concept.
Group 6 -
Opposition

Guidelines

1. Groups to be composed of 6-7 persons max. The Proposition team agrees with the
motion, the Opposition team disagrees with it.

2. Each person to speak for no more than 3 mins , each group’s presentation should
not be more than 20 mins long in total. The time limit is to be strictly adhered to.
Marks will be deducted for groups/ speakers who do not stick to the time limit.

3. You may use slides to illustrate your points but this is not a requirement. If using
slides, each speaker should have no more than one slide.

4. Each member should pass up EITHER a single A4 sheet of the notes they have
prepared for the debate OR a single slide relating to their individual
presentations – this need not be a formally written essay (if in the form of notes);
point form is fine. The submission is to assist the lecturer in having a fuller picture of
the points that were made, or intended to be made. These submissions must be
printed out and handed to the lecturer in person before the presentation. There
is no need to create or submit a consolidated “group” slide deck or report, unless you
wish to do so.

5. When addressing the motions in your groups apply your minds to the following:
a. What the main points that your team wishes to make? Remember to
summarise and be succinct where possible because you have a strict time
limit. It will not be helpful to read out long passages from articles and case
law.

b. How will you divide up the points amongst group members ? Make sure that
everyone has a chance to speak for a sufficient amount of time. Not everyone
needs to speak for exactly the same amount of time in order to be effective
(for e.g. you may wish to allocate slightly more time to your last speakers).
However, the deviations in time should not be too large.

c. How will you present your ideas? With slides? Just with spoken comments?
By writing on the whiteboard? Be creative – anything you can do to make the
debate more interesting and hold the attention of your audience, will be
welcome. You will get credit for being engaging and lively.

d. What arguments can the other side make? How would you counter them? Are
there any implicit assumptions in the motions that you can challenge on a
more fundamental basis? Is the motion even phrased in a way that makes
sense to you, based on what you know of the topic? Should the motion be
framed differently? Read every word in the motion carefully and ask yourself
what they mean or suggest, and whether they are necessary.

e. If the reference material has case law in it, ask yourself if you agree with the
judgement(s)? If you were the judge, would you have decided differently?
Think about the motions critically – if they were applied to commercial
transactions would they be pro-business or unconducive to enterprise? Can
this be balanced against a wider public interest that is being served?

f. Remember that this is a debate not just a presentation. So when you speak
(unless you are the first speaker of the Proposition) you will need to apply
your mind to what the speaker before you on the other side has just said.
Credit will be given to speakers who can intelligently engage with the points
made by opposing speakers and convince the audience. Try your best not to
just read from a prepared script and fail to engage with the speaker before
you, or other speakers.

g. When you are speaking, remember that you can also direct questions to the
opposing team. The speakers on the opposing side (after you have spoken),
can then address the questions. If a question has been asked of your team,
don’t ignore it. Points will be given for questions answered, on both an
individual and team basis.

h. Traditionally, the last speaker sums up what everyone in their team has said
and rebuts all other arguments-- that’s a very big job so remember to be
concise. The last OS and the last PS (see below) will need to do some
thinking on their feet, but remember that the team will be assessed as a
 whole also. Other speakers should provide support to the last OS and the last
PS by assisting with rebuttals along the way, so that not all rebuttals are left
to the very end.

i. The debate format is relatively simple; each team member of each side
speaks for a maximum of 3 minutes, alternating sides, until all have spoken.
Speaker 1 of the Proposition opens the debate. At the end of the debate, the
students may take questions from the floor, for about 2-5mins, depending on
the time constraints. The class will then vote on who the winning team is.
The class vote will not singlehandedly determine your grade – this is not a
popularity contest, it is just meant to provide some feedback on how your
presentation was received by your audience. The ultimate grading decision
rests with the lecturer, who will allocate marks based on the presentation
rubric and the guidelines set out here. The flow of each debate will go
something like this:

Proposition Speaker 1 (PS1) - Opens the debate and frames the whole
team’s arguments and main points. Explains briefly what each speaker in
his/her team will be talking about.
Opposition Speaker 1 (OS1) - Frames the whole of the Opposition’s
arguments and main points. Explains briefly what each speaker in his/her
team will be talking about. Maybe rebut broadly, what PS 1 has said, if there
is time.
PS2 – Makes argument, including some rebuttals to OS 1, asks some
questions of the opposing team.
OS2 - Makes argument, including some rebuttals to PS2 (and PS 1 if
appropriate), asks some questions of the opposing team.
PS3 - Makes argument, including some rebuttals to OS2 (and OS1 if
appropriate), asks some questions of the opposing team.
OS3 - Makes argument, including some rebuttals to PS3 (and PS1 and/ or
PS2 (if appropriate), asks some questions of the opposing team.
etc….
.
.
.

Last PS – Closes the debate and summarises all the points made by the team
and how his/her team has managed to rebut the key arguments made by the
Opposition. This should link back to what PS 1 has said.

Last OS - Closes the debate and summarises all the points made by the team
and how his/her team has managed to rebut the key arguments made by the
Proposition. This should link back to what OS 1 has said
 j. The materials referred to above are the basic resources for you to refer to,
analyse and think through. If you wish to refer to other additional materials,
you may, but this is not necessary. Credit for additional research materials
will only be accorded if those materials are relevant, and the references
made, accurate. More content does not equate to a better grade. Focus on
quality rather than quantity. The point of this exercise is for you to take a step
back from the materials discussed previously in the seminars and make your
own conclusions about the ideas presented in them. You also do not need
to refer to all the materials in the relevant seminars – just select what’s
sufficient to make a 15- 20 min long, convincing case, split up amongst your
respective group members

6. Be respectful, and try to have fun.

7. Try to dress and speak formally if you can, imagining that you are debating in your
workplace. If you can’t dress the part or don’t want to, it’s fine as well, but make sure
your speaking voice and tone are appropriate (i.e. no Singlish, no bad language).

There is a good summary here on how to debate :

https://www.sfu.ca/cmns/130d1/HOWTODEBATE.htm