Circle important words or phrases that suggest possible arguments. Every line in the scenario should be valuable even if it seems to support your opponent s side. Once you have identified the evidence for your opponent s arguments you can set out to pre-emptively attack them in your speech. Another general piece of advice is to shut off that critical voice that says, That argument isn t very good, it would be embarrassing to make it. Preparing arguments should be like a brainstorm session.
Every idea is a potentially valuable idea.
Your job is to reach a state in which ideas flow from your head as quickly as possible. Some ideas will be better than others, but sometimes a weak idea leads you to a really strong one. Trying to screen out bad ideas often limits your access to related good ideas. Still another problem is that your opponents may not see the weaknesses in your bad arguments. Experienced debaters know that their opponents often demolish their strong arguments and stumble on their weak ones.