I. The argument which the affirmative may advance, that the experience
of Shortridge High School demonstrates the success of this plan, is
without weight, for: 

A. It is not applicable to this question, for: 

1.  The plan at Shortridge is not identical with the proposed
plan, for: 

(1) Shortridge has not entirely abolished inter contests, for: 

a) School Review, October, 1911.

2.  Conditions in Shortridge differ from those in the high schools
of Northern Illinois, for: 

(1) Faculty of that school has unusual efficiency in coaching,
for: 

a) Extract from letter of principal.

(2) Larger number of students, for: 

a) Extract from letter of principal.

CONCLUSION

Since there is no opportunity for serious abuse arising from contests between schools, and since the adoption of contests within the schools alone would lessen the democracy of contests as a form of education, and since the proposed plan is impracticable in theory and has never been put into successful operation, the negative concludes that the substitution of intra for inter contests is not desirable in the high schools of Northern Illinois.

From these illustrative briefs we can draw: 

RULES FOR BRIEFING

The introduction should contain only such material as both sides will admit, or, as you can show, should reasonably admit, from the phrasing of the proposition.

Scrupulous care should be used in the numbering and lettering of all statements and substatements.

Each issue should be a logical reason for the truth of the proposition.

Each substatement should be a logical reason for the issue or statement that it supports.

Each issue in the proof and each statement that has supporting statements should be followed by the word “for.”

Each reason given in support of the issues and each subreason should be no more than a simple, complete, declarative sentence.

The word “for” should never appear as a connective between a statement and substatement in the introduction.

The words “hence” and “therefore” should never appear in the proof of the brief, but one should be able to read up through the brief and by substituting the word “therefore” for the word “for” in each case, arrive at the proposition as a conclusion.

SUGGESTED EXERCISES

1.  Turn to Exercise 1, in Lesson V, and carefully brief the selection from Burke.

2.  Is the following extract from a high-school student’s brief correct in form?  Criticize it in regard to arrangement of ideas, and correct it so far as is possible without using new material.

SOCCER FOOTBALL SHOULD BE ADOPTED IN THE “A” HIGH SCHOOL AS A REGULAR BRANCH OF ATHLETIC SPORT