Arguments have been a part of almost my daily interactions especially with my family at home. While some have mastered this art, I often struggle with it. Debate is a broader activity than argument as it is a process that involves argumentation (The Editors of Idea, 2003). Debate requires research in order to add power to the arguments. This debate was my first and has been a tremendous learning experience. The guidelines and tips provided by the professor have been very helpful in the development of my presentation. The feedback from the class contributed immensely to my learning.
I chose the topic on flu shots because of its timeliness and because of the H1N1 pandemic that we are currently facing. Taking flu shots has always been at the bottom of my priority list and presenting a debate on this topic would give me an opportunity to learn more about this issue. I have experienced a bad reaction to a flu shot several years ago which deterred me from taking the shots for a number of years. It was not until I noticed that my children were always ill with influenza before I reconsidered taking the shots again. The topic fascinated me because while I believe in the value and understand the benefits of vaccinations, I did not believe that all nurses must be vaccinated. I was assigned the affirmative position on the debate entitled “That all RNs must have swine flu shots” contrary to what I would have preferred.
Researching for the topic gave me a better perspective of the issue and was able to view the topic from both sides. The more I read about H1N1 the more convinced I became in support of my position.
Before I started my research, I had the opportunity to view for the second time the movie “The Great Debaters” while contemplating on my debate topic. The movie gave me snapshots of some of the fallacies that I learned in this class. It also provided me an idea as to the research and preparation that would be required in developing a debate presentation. Certainly, this movie gave me an excellent example of a debate and prepared me for how much work I needed to accomplish for my debate presentation.  
My research consisted of a literature search using mainly the ProQuest database. I used the key terms “swine flu”, “flu shots”, “H1N1”, and “pandemic” for the search. In addition, I searched for the Canadian rights and freedom, the patient’s Bill of Rights and the nurses’ rights and responsibilities. The strategy that I used worked as I was able to find the articles that I needed to develop my case. 
The feedback I received from the class has been generally positive. The few criticisms were provided in a constructive manner. The main debate presentation was “messy” as one of my classmates commented because the text boxes were not removed from the slides. Furthermore, these text boxes apparently were distracting to the reader. In the main presentation, I used a scenario which two of my classmates found “harsh.”  They thought that it was used inappropriately. There was also a comment made about the lack of page numbers on my slides which made referencing somewhat difficult. Although, most gave positive comments about how I addressed my opponent’s individual arguments in my rebuttal, I believe that using the thematic strategy would have been a better option. First, it would have been easier for me to address several arguments with the same theme. Secondly, thematic rebuttal would have presented ideas in a succinct manner and finally, it would have been easier for the reader to follow the idea being presented. 
I received a few compliments on the design of the PowerPoint slides I used which was “appropriate” for the debate title. The background of the slides depicted a balance which provided a graphic representation of the debate theme. One of the articles that I read gave me the idea for the title of my presentation: “Swine Flu Vaccination: Obligation or Option.” I thought this title well-represented the debate topic.  However, one commented that my debate position was not clearly stated in my introduction. 
The outline I provided indicated to some a well-planned and organized presentation. The division of the arguments into “premises” was somewhat confusing to one classmate but gave others a clear organization of the arguments. Some of the terms that I used like “urgent”, “serious”, “highly” were thought to be powerful words and added to the strength of the arguments.
The description of the key terms in the first few slides provided good background on the topic as some have indicated in their comments. While some stated that the information provided added to their knowledge on the subject others noted that some of the information was new knowledge. This background information also contributed to the strength of the arguments.
In summary, this experience has been very valuable. Although this was my first debate, the strategies that I used in the debate preparation and in the presentation itself proved useful and effective. However, I realized that not everyone was convinced to take my side of the debate. Regardless, the general comments indicate to me that the class learned from my presentation. The criticisms I received were good and very useful for improving my future debate presentations in PowerPoint format.