ORGANIZATION OF MATERIAL - THE BRIEF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BRIEF HAVING decided upon his proposition, the student's task is to prove it. If he has taken a familiar subject, his problem is to select and arrange the evidence at his command in the way best suited to prove his proposition. Whether he contemplates giving a written or an oral argument, a brief is indispensable at this stage of the work. A brief is an outline or skeleton of an argument. It must be comprehensive enough to include the general plan of the argument. By the experienced brief-drawer the details of the plan may be presented with more or less elaborateness, but, because of the great value the brief has in training the student to organize his ideas, the brief of the beginner should be a full one. Lincoln doubtless found the following brief adequate in a suit against an agent who had retained $200 out of $400 of pension money due the widow of a Revolutionary soldier: "No contract. Not professional services. - Unreasonable charge. — Money retained by Def't not given to Pl'ff. -Revolutionary War.- Describe Valley Forge privations. Pl'ff's husband. Soldier leaving home for army. Skin Deft.-Close."— BAKER: Principles of Argumentation. This brief, while sufficiently comprehensive, is too little elaborated to be helpful to an inexperienced writer. The following brief is a specimen of the kind ' of brief most helpful to the student : Question: Resolved, That the termite or white ant is an important agricultural agency in tropical Africa. BRIEF FOR THE AFFIRMATIVE INTRODUCTION I. The extensive earth works of the termite, or white ant, suggest the question, May not this insect have an important agricultural function in tropical Africa? II. It is granted that earth loses its productive power unless the layers of soil are in some way mixed so that the subsoil is brought to the surface. III. It is granted that any agency that is necessary to and largely instrumental in the bringing of the subsoil to the surface is an important agricultural influence. IV. The question then is, Is the termite necessary to the bringing up of the subsoil in tropical Africa, and is it largely instrumental in the process? PROOF The termite, or white ant, is an important agricultural agency in tropical Africa, for I. It is necessary to the transference of the layers of soil, for A. Other agencies are wanting, for I. There are no frosts to disintegrate the soil. B. The work can not be done by the earthworm, for 1. Although the earthworm is a "natural skewer," I'. Yet, it can not penetrate the sun-baked a. Henry Drummond reports in Tropical a single worm in Central Africa. II. It is instrumental in bringing the subsoil to the surface, for A. Its habits of life demand it, for 1. Its mode of building its house demands it, for a. It builds subterranean houses. b. It must bring up the excavated earth. c. It builds mounds. d. It must bring the material for them from under the earth, for |