User's Guide


User's Guide

A-Z index/categories: You can browse the existing discussions either in alphabetical order or according to the categories they are classified in.

Create content: You can create your own discussion. After you create a new discussion, any registered user can add and evaluate your arguments.

  • After selecting Create content, you will find the option Discussion, click on it and you can now start creating your own discussion.
  • Title & Summary of point: In the submit discussion menu, you have to input the Title, that is, the main conclusion of your discussion, with a summary of it in Summary of point box. The summary can be up to 30 letters long.
  • Background information: You can also supply any relevant material by filling in the Background information box, any web address you provide will directly appear as a hyperlink in the list view format of your discussion.
  • Notes: the box is provided for you to enter your own comment on the topic and any other supplementary information you think fit to the discussion
  • Categories: Select a relevant category among the preset into which your discussion is classified
  • Related Discussion: You can choose among existing discussion topics (more than 1 is allowed) which you think is related with your discussion. This helps other users to access a wider range of information
  • Reason: this box is provided for you to enter your reason for proposing your discussion
  • Tags: you can enter your own tags for your discussion, and this is important for your discussion be efficiently searched for and found by other users
  • Save as My Favorite Discussion: tick this box if you want your discussion to be saved into your My Favorites list on the home page for easier access in the future
  • Preview & Submit: You can take a preliminary view of your topic before you click in Submit for the final submission by clicking the Preview button.

Most Visited: these are the most visited discussions.

What's New: the most recently added discussions.

My Favorites: after logging in you can add any discussion to "My Favorites" by clicking the "Add to My Favorites" button under the title of the discussion.

My Discussions: a list of discussions you've created.

My Group Discussions: a list of discussions created by members of groups that you belong to.

In the list of points of the discussion, any point in green color means that it plays a supporting role to the conclusion of the discussion, and orange an objecting. For example:

Discrimination is a social sin
- Discrimination is unavoidable
- Although human beings have different values, it does not mean that they have to express them in a discriminatory way

The point "Although human beings have different values, it does not mean that they have to express them in a discriminatory way" is a supporting claim to the main conclusion "Discrimination is a social sin" (as suggested by its green color), given that it is a counter-argument towards its parent argument (as the "-" sign shows) "Discrimination is unavoidable" which is an objection to the main conclusion. (as both its color and "-" sign show in this case)

View Topic Map: you can view any particular discussion in a topic map format by clicking on the "View Topic Map" button under the title of the discussion.

Topic Map: the central box in the map is the conclusion/title of the discussion, boxes radiating from this central box contain summaries of points that either support or reject this concluding claim. These boxes may also have their own supporting reasons or objections, denoted by items under the top point.

Moreover, if you direct the mouse pointer above any point you can see the full details of the point, and can click a button to rate the point, or add a sub-point to it.

View Pros and Cons

You can also view any discussion in a Pros and Cons list. The For column on the left hand side contains points in favor of while the Against column on the right contains points against the parent point. You can click on any particular point in the columns to explore further its own Pros and Cons list.

Essay Planner

The aim of this program is to help you plan an essay. It will:

  1. help you to plan your essay
  2. help you to write your essay, including the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion
  3. help you to proof-read your essay
  4. produce an essay, which you can save and print out using your browser's File menu
  5. and speak your essay to you.

Presentation Planner
The aim of this program is to help you plan a presentation. It will:

  1. help you to plan your presentation
  2. help you to write your presentation, including the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion
  3. produce the following:
    • a script, which you can save and print out using your browser's File menu
    • printable note cards, which you can save and print out using your browser's File menu
    • a slide show, which you can save to your computer using the browser's File > Save menu
    • and speak your presentation to you.

Add point

After logging in, there will be a little button entitled "add point" after any point; you can add either a supporting or objecting argument to a point by clicking on it and enter the point in the "Your point" box in the upcoming "Submit point" page. You can also put down notes in the "Notes" box for any supplementary information on your point, or select any existing point in the discussion in the "Related point" box that you think would be appropriate.

You should also put down the Reference URL, page number or reference in A.P.A. format regarding the source of your argument, if there is any.

You can also tag your point for easy searching by yourself and other users in the future.

Note: This "Submit point" page can be accessed again for any revision of the point within a time limit. You can do this by clicking on the point you have earlier submitted (in the text format) and then you will find an "edit" button beside the "view" one.

Rate This

You can evaluate any point in a discussion by clicking on the "Rate This" button after it.

The rating you make will affect not only the rating of the particular point but also its parent point(s) and subsequently the final rating of the discussion. The rating of the conclusion or any particular point will, apart from its own rating, include all those of its child points: positively for those which are supporting and negatively for those which are objecting.

The rating results are shown on the 'List of Points' view. Each 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' symbol represents 20% support, with one thumb () being 0 - 20%, 2 thumbs 21 - 40% etc.

Notice that the rating of each discussion and point is preset as neutral, i.e. neither favoring nor disfavoring, until a rating is given. The rating of any discussion or parent point is not affected by the numbers of supporting or objecting points it includes, given that the strength of a claim depends only on the quality, not quantity, of its arguments.

The rating system is basically conducted by calculating the truthfulness as well as the relevance/importance of the point you vote on. A true and very important argument will yield the highest rating. However, a very unimportant point, no matter how true it is will gain no mark as it is believed to have nothing to do with the discussion. By the same token, a very important but mistaken argument will result in the most negative rating, for it commits the highest degree of error.

(With respect to an increasing degree of certainty, an argument can be evaluated as possibly (true/false), probably (true/false) or definitely (true/false). A definitely true (or false) statement suggests that its truthfulness (or falsity) is beyond any doubt, for example: "the sun rises in the east" is a definitely true statement for we can hardly imagine the otherwise. (by the same token, "the sun rises in the west" is a definitely false statement for it can never be true). A probably true statement suggests that it is highly possible, but not totally certain, for it to be true, for example, "it is not going to be snowing in the coming winter in Hong Kong". A possibly true statement is a statement that is likely to be true, however, would not be surprising if the opposite turns out to be the case, for example, "I am going to score higher marks in the coming exam if I study harder now.")

In addition, the Fact/Opinion option allows you to assess the factuality of the point, and the Logical/Illogical the logicality. They both significantly affect the final rating. There is also a list of fallacies from which you can select, and hence comment more specifically on the reasoning problem in the point.