Prof. Graham & Kevin's ABC's of Debate: GROUPING

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5:46 - Ever thought you could make your debate rounds more impactful by saving time without sacrificing the quality of your arguments? You're about to discover how! Join Professor Graham and his sidekick Kevin as they unpack the art of grouping arguments—a strategic tool that can transform your debate efficiency while keeping your arguments sharp and nuanced. Through humor and practical insights, you'll learn how to identify arguments that can be grouped, simplify your judges' flows, and avoid common pitfalls that could cost you the debate.

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Episode Transcript

Adrian Graham (00:12):
Hello debaters, and welcome back to another
episode of Professor Graham'sABCs of Debate.
I'm Professor Graham, here withmy pal Kevin, and today the
word of the day is going to begrouping.
So without further ado, let'sjump into it.
I thought Groupon was an app orsomething.
Hey, Kevin, until the peoplewho make verbatim start paying
me to spread the gospel of theirbeautiful program, we are not

(00:33):
sponsored.
Anyways, grouping refers toanswering multiple arguments at
the same time, and it's actuallya quite simple concept.
When grouping arguments, thegoal is to be as efficient as
possible without losing theimportant nuance of your
arguments.
For example, if you'reanswering responses to your
contention and some of them looksuspiciously similar or don't

(00:55):
have enough specific warrants todeserve different answers, then
you should group them.
This saves you time because,realistically, in some places
some of your responses tend tobe very similar to each other,
so save yourself the hassle ofrepeating yourself over and over
again.
Pause Before you go feral andstart grouping.
Every are the same, you cangroup, but if answers one and

(01:27):
three are the same, don't try it.
Well, why not?
You really put a damper on myfun plans.
Well, remember, Kevin, most ofthe reasons behind why we
organize things in our speecheshas to do with making our judges
flow as pretty as possible.
So if you start saying grouparguments three and seven and
their seventh argument is on theback of the paper now they're

(01:48):
flipping their paper over,hunting for arguments and
cross-referencing to the pointwhere it just becomes a disaster
.
Save them and yourself the work.
And just group arguments thatare next to each other.
That being said, if you want toefficiently cover arguments
that are separated on the flow,just do all of the responses you
would give to both arguments onthe first one and when you move

(02:11):
down to the second one, nomatter where it is on the page,
just say cross-apply all ourresponses from their first
argument.
They apply the same.
It still saves you time and itmakes it clear that these
arguments don't deserve specificindicts.
Again, I'm going to put anasterisk on grouping every
argument at all times.
Grouping is a powerful tool tosave you time, but be careful

(02:33):
when you use it.
If you group arguments that youassume to be identical but
there are some very specificwarrants to differentiate them,
you are not going to be happywhen your next opponent stands
up because nine out of ten timesthey will point out the
difference between the argumentsand explain why your lack of
specific, direct responseswarrants voting for them.
Conversely, if someone tries togroup your incredibly detailed,

(02:56):
beautifully crafted strategies,then you're welcome to do this
too.
Prove to everyone that groupingyour specific arguments was a
mistake and make them look likefools for either
misunderstanding your argumentsor intentionally trying to hide
how scary-slash-distinct it was.
Last but not least and thisshould go without saying, but
you shouldn't group your ownarguments.
Keep your warrants distinct.

(03:17):
The more you combine them, theeasier it is for your opponent
to answer things.
Grouping should be reserved forsimplifying your opponent's
nonsense, not making your ownarguments weaker.
It'll only hurt you in the longrun.
Well, that was fun.
Grouping arguments tends to bepretty pog, so I hope you had a
fun time today, Kevin.
Wow, I didn't think my speechtimes could get any lower Lower,

(03:39):
I hardly know her.
Hey, Thanks again for watchingtoday's episode of Professor
Graham's ABCs of Debate.
As always, I'm Professor Grahamand that's my pal Kevin.
Yeah, if you ever need any helpwith debate stuff at all, my
email should be right up here.
That's the show, so you caneasily see your coach.
I'll get back to you as soon asI possibly can.
If I need debate tips that youmight need, I'll drop that

(03:59):
knowledge on you, Bam.