HOW TO PREPARE FOR A DEBATE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 39, 26 September 1907, Page 12

HOW TO PREPARE FOR A DEBATE

AN ARTICLE OF PRACTICAL INTEREST TO OUR YOUNQ MEN AND OTHERS ,

By J. A. Scott, M.A.

>. (Continued from last week.) JLi by any chance you strike a subject that .does not come directly within the purview even of the encyclopedias, you must use your brains, and ' try to think of the men in the community who are most likely to be able to give you help. Suppose, e.g., the question proposed is that of compulsory preference to unionists in New Zealand. You might have some difficulty in getting any book dealing with the question, but if you go to the secre- , tary of the Trades and Labor Council, he will, be only too happy to give you any amount of manifestoes issued' by the workers^ in vindication of their claim. Repair next to the secretary of the Employers' Association, and he will be equally -delighted to fur- , nish you with the numerous counterblasts published by the employers. Thus in less than an hour you may be in possession of . a- complete statement of both the pros and cons on the question. Be always on the look-out to squeeze information out of anyone you come across. If you don't happen to have, ideas of your own, don't hesitate to get them from other people. I remember some time ago meeting in the street a young Presbyterian minister, of Scottish descent, who had been a fellow-student witlTme, and who was noted for his dulness. After hurriedly shaking hands, I tried to escape from the reverend gentleman with' the non-committal and rather obvious remark that it was a fine morning. But he held me with his glassy eye. 'Ay/ he said, 'it seems a fine morning, but don't you think ' imagination has a good deal to do with it?' I thought the remark rather irrelevant and stupid, but anything was possible from that quarter, and as it was uttered with a certain earnestness and solemnity, out of mere courtesy I answered and .discussed the question. In "about half an hour he had extracted from me any stray ideas that I \ happened to possess on the influence and scope of the imagina-" tion, and at the close of the interview he calmly remarked : ' I've got to give my Literary Society a lecture on Imagination, and I juist thocht I would try to get haud o' a few ideas, you ken.' He was a dull man, but he had fallen in that morning with a duller one. Having done a reasonable amount of reading on the subject prescribed, and made careful notes as you read, put both books and notes aside for a few days, and let the information you have gathered simmer *n the mind. Don't whip the brain, or make any special effort, but in such odd moments as you are free from other subjects, let the matter you have been reading be turned quietly over in the mind. You will find that in a little while the raw material you have gathered will work itself into some sort of definite shape and form, and from the. chaos of information you have accumulated certain leading ideas and conclusions will emerge. These are the points which you are, to bring out and drive home. Let them be carefully jotted down as and when they occur to you. The Next Step isHo arrange them in some sort of logical method. It is possible to heap up a vast mass of good, things all in a muddle. You have been at some pains to acquire a certain knowledge of your subject, and unless you wish to Ipse half the benefit of your preparation you must take equal trouble to see that that knowledge is presented in the clearest and most convincing way. ' Method,' says .an old writer, 'is like packing things in a box: a good packer will get in half as much again as a bad one.' No detailed _ rule's can be given regarding the arrangement of arguments in a debate, for the obvious reason that the method of arrangement will vary with the nature of the subject, and with the special characteristics of the particular audience you* are addressing. Speaking generally, I would say begin with your best points — i.e., with the one or two points that appeal to you as going most deeply to the root of the subject. There is some truth in the saying- that -firsC impressions last longest, and if you can manage at the very outset to impress the, audience with your thoughtfulness and thoroughness, they are likely to retain their good impression to the end. . If possible, keep a simple and effective point for the close. It is not wise to keep your deepest points^to the last, because, if there is a time .limit, you will probably not have the chance to develop them. But if you have an argument that can be briefly stated and easily understood, and that is at the\

same time taking and effective, that is the point' to make your finish with. Whatever use you may make of books in gather- - ing arguments, never take your arrangement of ideas from any book. Let the arrangement be simply and absolutely thafc which appeals to you after the ideas have been sifted in your own mind, and never adopt any particular, order without having some reason for it. If you cannot be original in your ideas, you can, at any rate, show your individuality in your way of marshalling them. Whatever imperfection or defects your arrangement may have, you should at least be able to say of it, as Toucßstone said of his 'wife : 'It is an ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own.' I should add here that if you are opening a debate," you will find it of the greatest seryice — as a piece of controversial strategy — to deal very - fully -in advance with the" principal arguments that you know will be put f orwai d by your opponent. Unless he is a fairly-experienced debater he will be so taken aback at his objections being thus answered before he can advance them that Jie will never get properly into his stride, but will flounder on in vague and helpless quest after the things he meant to say if you had only had the grace to leave his side of the question alone. ' Having "decided on The Main Propositions / you intend to bring forward, you now proceed to write your speech. I am writing this, as I have already said, on the assumption that you are a beginner ;. but even fairly practised speakers, if they have the time and can summon sufficient • ] energy to write out their speeches, will, find immense benefit from the practice. Do not make a long and elaborate introduction ; it is always a pity to build a great porch to a little house. Let your introduction be brief, but carefully thought out. It should set forth the special circumstances, if any, which give interest and importance to the question at the time you are discussing it, and should state, in precise and" carefully chosen terms, the ( exact sense in which you understand the words employed. At times this is all important, and there are occasions when the whole strength of your case may depend on a close adherence to the precise terms of the debate. If there" are any special circumstances which give you a claim to a little indulgence from the audience — such as, that this is your first debate, or that you have had little experience in public speaking — by all means 6tate them. A little modesty is always becoming — all the more so from its extreme rarity in these days — and a modest beginning will at least. go a little way towards disarming criticism. Your next work is to compose the body of your speech — in other words, to amplify and illustrate the points you have decided to advance, and to clothe your skeleton outline with flesh and blood. This is, I' believe, by far the greatest difficulty the young debater has to face. Even the least gifted beginner can usually manage to scrape* together one or two ideas on the subject vnr hand, -but how to set about expanding these completely baffles him. (Left to himself, his speech, in many cases, would be about as bald^as the Boy's essay on elocution. A boy was asked to write an essay- on elocution, and was told that he not be diffuse, but must lay down his propositions fairly, and come to the point at once. He delivered himself of this splendid effort- : — ' Elocution is a very good 'thing for boy's j hence the immortality of the soul. ' When you have^ exhausted your own resources in the "effort to elaborate any -particular point and are absolutely, stuck, you will find ' The Following Method * of procedure helpful. Go back to the books you originally consulted ,* with this particular point exclusively in view re-read the principal articles on the subject, and jot down everything that can be considered to have any connection with the argument you are seeking to elaborate. In this w.ay you will refresh your memory in regard to all you have read, and will be practically certain to find material for amplification of any special point. This practice will be foundi useful, too, as a mentalexercise, -compelling you, as it does, to select from a iriass of material that which is relevant to one particular point j and it will stand you in good stead until that facility which, conies of practice will enable you to dispense with' its aid. I #eed scarcely say that if you can develop your point by some illustration that you have come across in ydur own ordinary reading, or by' some fact which has come under your own personal observation or experience, 'this is likely to be much more effective than anything taken from the encyclopaedias. The Conclusion, or peroration, as -it is called, of your address need not be long, you should make a special effort to make it effective. It

should take the -form of. a brief but comprehensive summing up of the main points you have advanced, ending with a few telling words by way of final appeal. Making a peroration is not something that one can give a recipe for, as one might give a recipe for>eau de Cologne. The closing appeal will necessarily vary with the nature of the subject and the individuality of the speaker. All that I wish to impress "upon you 's that this is a matter that is worth taking pains about, and that you ought not to grudge spending a considerable amount of time over even one' brief sentence if ' by so doing you are enabled to - give off rounded and effective finish to yo\u" remarks. Having written out your speech in full, read it over carefully, striking out whatever is irrelevant or unnecessary in relation to the particular point you ai'e wishing to drive home. Do * ' not attempt to learn your speech off by heart. That, at least, is my humble advice, and on this point I can speak from actual ' experience. I am a little like the dying man who, as his last advice to his son, said: 'My son, lemember, honesty is,. the best policy; I know, for I have tried' both.' In this matter of speechmaking I have tried both methods. I once learnt a speech absolutely and completely off by heart— it was my first little speech in public — and I think I will' never forget the miserable and uncomfortable sensation I experienced. As a mere bit of .memorising I delivered the thing off perfectly, but it was "so absolutely dead and flat and ineffective that I vowed a vow never to attempt 'the learning-by-heart method^ again. Better break down a dozen times in your effort to master the art of thinking on yoiir feet than let your speechmaking degenerate into mere recitation. While utterly deprecating the practice— as a regular thing — of learning speeches off by heart, I would make some exceptions in regard to the introduction and the conclusion. These are the parts in which bashfulness, nervousness, or hesitancy are most likely to wreck a speech, and I would therefore advise the beginner to commit these two brief portions to memory. But so far as the body of your speech is concerned, read it over three or four times, then do not look at it again till the debate is over. Before putting your speech away, however, there i§ one little final step in the way of preparation which should be attended to, and that is the making of A Brief Schedule of the chief heads of your argument for actual use in the debate. H you can manage without this, so much' the better ; but if you are to speak for, say, twenty minutes, and., are to adduce a welldeveloped chain of argument, you are almost certain to need some little assistance to enable you to, recall the various links , in your chain.' The piece of paper used fo/the purpose should be no larger than an ordinary envelope, and should contain Jiothing but a few oatchwor.ds or heads of the arguments or .- illustrations you mean to advance. The paper being small, "you can hold it easily in your hand, and can glance at your head- ■ ings, if not altogether without being observed, at least without unnecessarily obtruding your memoranda' oh your hearers' notice. Some years ago, in a fit of industry, I taught myself a smattering of shorthand, and, little as I know, I find it of great service for the purpose in question. \ v * (To be concluded next week.)