1. Making The Case
How to write an affirmative case and plan (that won’t make you look like an idiot)

2. Before You Start
Brainstorm with your partner- come up with as many different case areas as possible
Preliminary Research- just search around the internet, entering key words from your topic ideas. Count how many solid hits you get for each idea.
Narrow your focus- choose a case area that appeals to both partners and has several solid articles that seem to pertain

3. Structure is Important
Your Affirmative case should be structured according to the evidence you find
The most common structure- Plan-Meet-Need, is great for cases with lots of strong solvency.
Goals/Criteria or Comparative advantage structure works well if you have a lot of evidence that talks about goals of the current system going unmet, or solvency evidence that says a change in Status Quo could make a policy better. This also works well for cases with weaker inherency.
Alternative Justification structure works well if you find little bits of evidence on lots of different proposals.

4. Plan Meet Need
Intro (paragraph where you state the resolution, make a persuasive appeal)
Definitions- define key terms of the resolution.
Contentions- present your stock issues.
Harms/Significance (the problem)
Inherency (why the problem isn’t being solved)
Plan- present your idea for change. Five planks (Agency, Mandates, Funding, Enforcement, Legislative Intent).
Final Contention/Advantages- finish stock issues, tell us what exciting “extras” come from passing your plan.
Solvency- how your plan solves the problem
Added Advantages- good “extras”

5. Making Claims
You don’t directly call your arguments claims, but they are. You will write one to two sentence arguments for your issues.
Example- Harms- American bases in Japan have a negative impact on the surrounding area.

6. Making Sub-claims
Often, your claims can be broken down in to sub-claims or sub points.
Example- Harms subpoint- Rapes and assaults cause tension.

7. Supporting your claims
To support your claims, you use evidence. You get evidence from articles and books you read on the subject. You will “cut” parts of the evidence that support your claim to put in your case.

8. Evidence- Example
In the wake of recent press reports about the junior high school student allegedly raped by a US marine, there have been many angry foreign residents of Japan complaining that the Japanese media are making this into a bigger deal than it is; that rapes occur every day and that the media would not respond as zealously should it have been a Japanese national accused of this crime. There have been cries that this type of media reaction ultimately boils down to xenophobia and they also fail to forget the “innocent until proven guilty” law. However, although it can be said that the Japanese media harangue suspects before they are tried, many forget that this US military rape issue is on a wider scale. Firstly, there are political implications – the Okinawan officials have voiced their anger and Prime Minister Fukuda, appearing before a Diet committee Tuesday, described the incident as “unforgivable.” For anti- base Okinawans, such incidents are important in the campaign to get Tokyo either to ask the US to leave, or get more compensation for carrying the military burden: 70% of US military personnel in Japan are in Okinawa.
The issue is also historical. This new case has rekindled memories of the 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old Okinawa girl by three US servicemen, an incident that triggered mass resentment against the US military presence in Okinawa. The problem was that the US military was not made by law to hand over the suspected rapist to Japanese authorities and the struggle that the Japanese police faced in the handover caused outrage from Japan. The US marines refused to handover rape suspects unless they are indicted and this refusal could be seen time and time again through the many rape cases that Okinawa has faced throughout the years and gives the impression that the US forces would overtly protect their troops regardless of morals. Similarly, when a US army helicopter crashed in to Okinawa International University a few years ago, local police were not allowed to be involved in the investigation.
This time, the US forces have announced that a task force will review and reinforce its sexual harassment and assault prevention programs but cleaning up the reputation of the US forces in Japan will be near impossible should a repetition of cases like these continue.

9. Harms- American bases have a negative impact on the surrounding area.
A. Rapes and assaults by American personnel cause tension.

10. Plan
Planks- you will write one to two sentence descriptions of each part of your plan.
Plank 1- Agency- This plan shall be carried out by the Department of Defense and any other relevant agencies.
Plank II- Mandates-
A. A phased removal of US troops from Japanese soil will begin in January, 2011, and end no later tha January, 2014.
B. All current agreements with Japan regarding their defense will continued to be honored by US naval forces stationed in the region, as well as air and ground forces stationed on Guam and other US territories.
Plank III- Funding- All funding shall be come from the appropriations normally designated for the upkeep of the US bases on Japanese soil.
Plank IV- Enforcement- Enforcement of the plan shall be through normal means.
Plank V- Legislative Intent- Affirmative claims right of legislative intent.

11. Citation All evidence you use will be cited.
Goldenberg, Suzanne, (2009)
“ Violence In The Middle East: No End In Sight”, The Guardian.
Name of Author
Date
Title (if article)
Source