1. You will be given five minutes to publicly defend your position before the class in a question-answer-format. Prior to being interviewed, you will have 1-2 minutes to explain your issue to the class, indicate its significance, and assert your position.
2. Then the class as a whole will interview you. You may refer to notes during the interview. Logically, the underlying rationale that supports your stance in the position paper should surface in your public interview. To underscore this, try to cite a few sources when responding to questions.
3. Be sure to advance your argument logically and thoroughly. Try to avoid emotional appeals. Deal fairly with objections and opposing arguments.
4. During the last week of classes, be prepared for your public interview. I may ask for a copy of your notes.
5. The key to being prepared for a public interview is to PRACTICE IN MEANINGFUL WAYS. Perhaps you can conduct a practice interview. And you can certainly prepare via the "what if?" approach. Prepare responses to possible interview questions. It’s would be a good idea to include those in your notes.

I’m trying to keep this simple:

1. Follow these guidelines for answering questions from MPS (p. 391-2):

• restate or clarify the question
• compliment the question
• answer the question
• check the response with the questioner.

This is a complex situation: your responses have to be more than merely informative; they must be persuasive as well. So remember all the guidelines we’ve looked at for persuasive strategies.