This document provides guidance on argumentation and refutation. It instructs the reader to pick a side on a debate resolution and make three arguments to support their side and refute the other side. It describes the structure of an argument, including making a claim, providing a warrant to support the claim, and explaining the impact or importance. Different types of warrants like analytical, empirical, and psychological are also outlined. The document concludes by providing examples of how to refute an opponent's arguments, such as by providing counter evidence, pointing out logical flaws or missing assumptions, showing a lack of warrant, or demonstrating that the problem cannot be uniquely solved by one side.

1. Argumentation and
Refutation

2. Pick a side
•Resolved: All students should be required to
do community service to graduate.
• Pick a side and write three arguments to
support your side and three reasons why.
• Why are they important? How do they
explicitly support their side?

3. Structure
• Each argument makes a statement of truth (Claim)
• Gives support for that argument in terms of some reason why this argument
is true (warrant)
• Explicitly explains the importance of this argument in terms of how the
argument proves their position true or how the implication of the argument
affects people (impact)

4. Warrants
• Analytical warrant: logical reasons for the truth of the argument
• Empirical warrant: example and statistics from real world examples
• Psychological warrant: describe incentive structures for how people tend to
act in certain situations and are often backed up with psychological studies.

5. Practice
• Come up with two arguments IN FAVOR of the following resolution:
Resolved: Public colleges and universities
in the United States ought not restrict any
constitutionally protected speech.

6. How to REFUTE!
• Countering the truth of the original argument by giving counter evidence or
examples.
• Point out the missing steps in their logic. This doesn’t just mean noting that
their original argument is making assumptions, but pointing out what those
assumptions are and saying why they’re wrong.

7. • Pointing out that the argument doesn’t have warrant, meaning a clear reason
why the argument is true.
• “Non-unique” meaning it can’t be solved. Neither side can uniquely claim
advantage of solving this problem.
• Weighing the argument.
• Citing a fallacy
• These are all Defensive refutations