Rebut Better

No matter how well you prepare for a debate, there will always be an impromptu section called 'rebuttal'. This is where you must present a case against arguments your opponent has made so far. It's off the top of your head, it's a test of you and your team's critical thinking... but it's easy if you know how

Steps

Things To Do Before You Rebut

  1. Know your team's case inside out. If the debate is prepared, you should be reading and rereading your teammates' speeches and improving them as a team. Brainstorm as much as you can. If the debate is in the short preparation format (that is, you have an hour or so between receiving the topic and speaking), make sure you are actively involved in the 10 minutes or so when you're coming up with your arguments, and focus on what your teammates are saying when they speak, not just what your opponents are saying.
  2. Plug holes in your speech before they are exploited. If you can see an opportunity where your opponent will attempt to rebut, they will see it too. For example, if you are advocating Car A over Car B, and you say Car A is more expensive, make sure you add a disclaimer, such as "Even though Car A costs more, the superior quality is well worth the cost". This way, your opponents may not even try to rebut that point at all, and if they do, you've set the basis for an easy rebuttal.
  3. Get into the mindset of your opponents. Sometimes it can be useful to pretend you have been allocated to the other side of the debate, and try to get into the opponents' minds. Does Car B have better safety features? A lower cost? Write down as many of these rebuttals as possible, and how you plan to counter them. If you can walk into a debate with a few semi-prepared rebuttals, it makes your job so much easier.
  4. Know your opponent's case! The first speaker of the opposing team will outline the arguments their entire team will make. Write these down quickly, then pay keen attention to the rest of their speech. You must take in as much information from them as is possible.
  5. Find something that's wrong with their argument. Do they contradict themselves? Are they cherry-picking arguments? Can you counter a hypothesis of theirs with facts? An opponent's argument is NEVER airtight. If needed, write down a note to yourself if you're not sure about a possible rebut, then have a quiet team huddle about it just after they have finished their speech. Write down anything and everything that you could use.
  6. Prepare a rebuttal palm card. A useful format is to write which speaker you're rebutting (1, 2, 3 or 'all' if it applies), a paraphrased form of what they said, and a dot point that you will use to rebut. Order your palm cards by speaker, and then by importance.
  7. Relax, and pretend you're elsewhere. When you rebut, you shouldn't be talking to an audience or the adjudicator. Rather, you should be having a conversation with an argumentative friend, or better yet, a teacher. Be polite, and be formal, but above all, relax. This will make it a lot easier to...
  8. Speak off the top of your head. Once you've exhausted whatever is written on your palm card, you treat the rebuttal as you would an ordinary conversation. When you talk to your friends, you don't think about what you're saying beforehand, do you? It just comes out. Try to position your mind so that you are having a conversation, and it will become much easier to give impromptu rebuttals. You'll get better at this over time.
  9. Be confident. In a debate, nothing is worse than a person who clearly thinks the other team is smarter, better or winning. You're winning, and you just proved it with your rebuttal. Be proud of what you have achieved.

How To Rebut

Let's start first with the types of contentions one might make.

Types of Contentions

  1. Logic. Logic is just reasoning. For example, if Car A was more expensive than Car B, you could argue, "Car B is better than Car A because it is cheaper and it is only logical that a family with a limited budget would purchase Car B instead of Car A.
  2. Analogy. Analogy is a comparison. For example, if Car A was more high quality than Car B, you could argue, "Car A is better than Car B simply because it is of better quality. You could compare this situation to somebody shopping for fruits. Car A is like the perfect, red apple at the top of the pile of apples and Car B is like the rotting fruit that's been sitting at the bottom of the pile for weeks. Any reasonable shopper would purchase the fresh, perfect apple instead of the rotting fruit that should be thrown out. Similar to the apples, few people would purchase a poorly-made car that might break down any moment on the highway.
  3. Historical Evidence.
    • Anecdotes It either happened to you or you know that somebody has done research on the topic. An anecdote could be, "On January 1, 2000, my grandfather drove a car - it was almost identical to car B - and you know what happened? His brakes failed and he crashed off a bridge! However, my parents have been driving a car similar to car A for decades and nothing bad has happened. Any reasonable person would not want to end up like my grandfather - dead because of some really badly-made car!"
    • A study could be, "Professor [enter name here] did a study recently on cars. In the study of 200,000 people, where 100,000 people drove car A and 100,000 drove car B, 10% of all people who drove car B died in a fatal crash and only 1% who drove car A got into minor accidents! It's obvious that from this, car A is better than car B".

Refutations

  1. Logic. Prove their logic is wrong. A possible refutation to my previous example could be, "Yes, it is correct that someone with a limited budget may not be able to afford Car A, but think about the value of a life. Does a buyer really want to die? As we have all heard, life is priceless. You cannot buy life and it is therefore worth more than any amount of money! It is obviously better to be safe with Car A's quality than take the risk of dying by driving Car B."
  2. Analogy. Prove their analogy doesn't work, or is slightly tangential. For example, one could argue against my previous comparison of the fruit to the cars. One such refutation could be, "Your analogy does not work. The apples are the same price each. The cars are not. You need a better analogy because the price of the cars can also be a factor, while the price of the apples is not."
  3. Historical Evidence.
    • Anecdote. Question the validity of their anecdote, or challenge the significance of their anecdote. For example, a possible response to my anecdote could be, "First, you cannot prove that is true, but let's assume it is. What's the probability that any random person who drives Car B happens to be on a bridge at the exact same moment when the brakes fail? You grandfather was just unlucky. That's all. Taking a tiny chance to save some money can turn out very helpful in the long run. Besides, we can logically deduce that your grandfather had a small budget because Car B is cheap. How do you know whether he got his brakes checked or not? For all we know, he could have been so cheap that he never bothered to go and get them checked." (Notice, don't try to hurt your opponent's feelings if you can avoid it, although it's their fault if they brought up the anecdote and you just destroy it. This wasn't a true story for me, but if it were for somebody, they could be insulted if you insulted their grandfather who died in a tragic car accident.)
    • Studies. You can't prove these false unless they seem very unlikely, such as in a recent study, 100% of all people who drove Car B died in car crashes. You can only make the contention seem less important. For example, one might say, "Blah! 10% of 100,000. That's only 10,000 people! It makes more logical sense to take your chances to save a ton of money!" Also, emphasize the "only" in the last statement to make a stronger statement.
  4. Remember why you are here. You can make any statements you want - even if you personally think they are the dumbest comments in the world and absolutely disagree with them. Remember that you are only arguing for your side - not for what you actually think.

Tips

  • If you have too many arguments to use, pick the most important ones, then just have the rest on the side. You can use any leftover arguments in your rebuttal if you need.
  • Talk to your teammates. Have you heard the phrase, "worth more than the sum of it's parts?" It definitely applies here. Together, you can come up with a far stronger rebuttal than you could working alone. Pass notes during the opponent's speech.
  • Find a friend who loves to argue, and argue with them frequently. This will only improve your critical thinking.
  • Never let anybody write your speeches for you. This will prevent you from knowing what you're talking about, let alone what the rest of your team is talking about.
  • Get used to using analogies or hypothetical situations. They are a fantastic tool to have in your arsenal, not only because they are effective, but also because they take up more time than a one-liner will. Use them sparingly, however.
  • Know not only useful facts, but also their origin. You can often use these to completely contradict an opponent's argument (saving you from having to speak too much,) or, if both teams are giving facts that seem to contradict each other, it would help if you mentioned your facts were from a credible source.
  • Don't forget about 'technical' rebuttals. If you and the other team disagree on the definition of the topic, make sure you continue to address why your definition is correct and theirs isn't. If they forget to address it, this can win you easy points.
  • Only write in points. Don't write in full sentences as you will run out of time.

Warnings

  • Attack the opposing team's arguments, not the opposing team themselves.
  • Don't spend too long on any one rebuttal.
  • Never, ever, admit you were wrong. If you don't have a counterattack for their rebuttal, don't address it at all.

Related Articles

  • Prepare for an ICC Debate
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