by Jonathan Carter
Overview
What is the first rule of extemp? Answer the question. In the majority of rounds if you are able to answer the question, you will be one of the top extempers in the round. When I say answer the question, I mean this very specifically. Answer every aspect of the question, don’t just use it as a prompt to talk about what you want to discuss. Because answering the question is so important, this brief is going to explain how to break down a question so that you know exactly what it is asking. Once you know this, you can formulate a speech that is a direct answer. Away we go, into how to answer the question land.
How to Break Down a Question
There are five basic elements to breaking down a question: Subject, Actor, Type of Question, Question Word, and Comparison. If you can identify all of these elements within a topic, you will have all the information that is needed to formulate a complete answer.
Subject: The first thing you should identify when you pick a question is the exact subject of the question. Basically, this is just the topic area (the folder(s) that you would pull from the files). Sometimes questions will address multiple subjects, so it is up to you to determine which one is the most important. The other steps that we will address will help clarify this.
Example: In the question “What can the UN do to make sanctions against Burma more effective?”, the subject is sanctions on Burma. This is the subject matter that you would need to focus on through the entire speech.
Actor: After you have identified the general topic you need to identify the actor in the question. This is the entity that has primary control over the situation. By identifying the actor you are able to ensure that your analysis focuses only on the organization designated in the question. If no actor is identified, you have to make one clear in the introductioin.
Example: In the previous question, the actor is the United Nations. As such, your analysis should ONLY focus on what they can do. You shouldn’t bring in China, the United States, or any other actor. However, if the question was “What can done to make sanctions against Burma more effective?”, you would have to define what actor should be acting in the intro and then analyze just them.
Type of Question: There are three types of questions: fact, value, and policy. By understanding what type of question you are answering, you can identify what you need to prove to answer the question. Questions of fact deal with what is, what will be, or how much effect something will have. To answer these questions you are only evaluating the state of things – do not say if things are good or bad or what should be done. Questions of value tend to focus on if things are good or bad, and as such call for your judgment of the situation. However, it should be noted that you should base this judgment on specific criteria, rather than your personal beliefs. Finally, questions of policy are outlining what should be done. For these questions you should give as specific of a policy solution as possible. Don’t just say economic reform – give the specific policies that need to be enacted/changed.
Question Word: How do you tell what type of question you have? By analyzing the question word, you can not only evaluate if a question is fact value or policy but also glean more specific details about what the question is asking. I will now break down the more common question words, and give some insight into the more specific insight each word gives you.
- Questions of Fact
Is – just wants to know the CURRENT state of things
Will – looks for the definitive future.
How will – wants the techniques that will be used, not the ones that should (note the difference)
Can – wants you to evaluate the capability of an agent to accomplish a goal.
To what extent OR how much* – asks you to quantify the impact of something
What effect – asks you to identify the impact of something - Questions of Value
Should – asks you to evaluate if a plan of action will be good or bad
Which is better – directly compare stated concepts
Boon or bane — evaluate if something is good (boon) or bad (bane) - Questions of Policy
How should* – wants you to provide the best policy to accomplish a goal
What steps* – wants you to identify the best policy(ies) to accomplish the stated goal
How can* – wants you to evaluate the best solution that the agent is capable of (note that this is different that how Should — which allows for a more utopian analysis
While this is by no means a definitive list of all of the question words, it should help highlight not only how to determine the type of question by the question word, but also how each word has its own idiosyncratic impact on the nature of your answer.
*It must be noted that some “when” questions imply that something will occur, should be solved, or will have an impact. There are judges who don’t like you to negate that with your answer. For example, if the questions says “how should,” you shouldn’t say that they shouldn’t, or if the question is “to what extent” you shouldn’t say there will be no effect. Basically, they argue that if the question implies that something will happen, you are changing the question by negating that implication. While we at Extemp HOTtopics do see the logic of this argument, we believe that if there is enough evidence to negate the implications of the question – and that is what you believe the best answer is – it is the most honest to negate the implication. All that being said, some judges will still drop you for it, so negate implications at your own risk (and by that we mean avoid doing so unless you feel you absolutely must).
Comparison: Because all questions have an inherent controversy (otherwise they wouldn’t be worth asking – or answering) there is some type of comparison that all questions require. By identifying this, you can direct your analysis towards resolving this controversy. Questions of fact tend ask you to compare two competing versions of truth – i.e., McCain will win vs. Obama will win; or the surge is working vs. the surge is not working. Value wants you to compare the different evaluates of the policy — i.e., social security reform is good for America vs. social security reform is bad for America; or Medicare should be reformed vs. Medicare should not be reformed. Finally, questions of policy should compare what is happening now with the proposed policy to prove that it is a good idea – i.e., current economic policies compared to reform package to prove that the latter is better. By finding the intrinsic comparison implied by the question, you can better direct your answer and ensure that you have covered all relevant counter arguments.