The role of supporting the resolution in a round falls on the Affirmative team.

The affirmative case is broken into two sections, the Resolutional Analysis, and the Case Proper.

In your Resolutional Analysis, include:

1) Definitions - What terms do I need to define?
2) Burdens - What do I need to accomplish or prove?
3) Value Premise - What idea am I upholding?
4) Criterion - How can I tell if I uphold that idea?

In your Case Proper, present several contentions in order to:

1) Show the worth of your value - Why is your value important? (Overview)
2) Apply your value in the proper field - How is this value upheld in the real world? (Application)
3) Weigh the values in the debate - Why is your value to be preferred, on balance? (Exposition)

You may be thinking that all these different kind of contentions are silly.  You may be thinking that we, the debaters-that-be, randomly decided these are good contentions to throw into a case.  Dear reader, I assure you that the affirmative case is not so random as that.  When you stop to consider the resolution, "Resolved: That the United States foreign trade policy ought to value human rights over national sovereignty" it really makes sense that your average-properly-supported affirmative case should cover all those bases. Let's take a step back and re-examine some obvious Burdens found in this year's resolution. 

1. Human Rights are important
2. Human Rights are important within trade policy 
3. Human Rights are to be preferred over National Sovereignty

To fulfill the first burden, you must show the worth of your value (Overview). To fulfill the second, you must apply your value in the proper field (Application). To fulfill the final burden, you must weigh the values in the debate (Exposition).  Lo and behold! It makes sense! If you fail to uphold any of the above burdens, you have failed to adequately prove the truth of the resolution.  So when writing your case, be sure to include overview, application, and exposition contentions

When writing you case, begin with your Value Premise. From there, establish a Thesis and use it to construct the rest of your case. Ask yourself "Why is the resolution true?" and tell the judge the answer.

Back to Paradigm: Tutorials: LD