When debates get stalled by disagreement, people can stop talking and turn to the written word. Writing allow you to consider in calm leisure why you think as you do and why your opponents are not yielding. Such writing is called a position paper. Your purpose in this position paper will be to persuade the rest of the class to agree with your verdict in the Srp vs. Srp case.
Imagine the class to be a jury in a court of law. After hearing testimony, the jury debated the issues and failed to agree entirely. Now write down your opinion, thinking of the "jurors" who disagree with you as your readers. Here is the judge's charge to the jury:

The question you are asked to decide is not what is in the best interests of all parties but rather whether Alice Srp is justified in claiming that she and Henry are incompatible or that Henry has been guilty of mental cruelty. If either of these claims is true, the law entitles her to a divorce. You will have to decide what incompatibility and mental cruelty are, and you will also have to demonstrate that Alice is an innocent and injured victim. Keep in mind, too, that you are not being asked to solve the couple's problems for them. Counseling, for example, might be a very good idea, but neither party has asked for it. They both ask only for justice, not help, and you are to decide where justice lies.

Strategy

Once you have made up your mind, understand the communication situation: The people you are addressing know the facts in the case already. Therefore, don't simply summarize what was said in the testimony: "Mrs. Srp expressed her views. . . ." We all heard the testimony. Tell us what you think it all amounts to. Begin with a clear, succinct statement of the verdict you support and then to explain why you support it.

Content

Position papers differ from other sorts of persuasive writing because they come after discussion has reached an impasse. They seek to find why people are not agreeing. One possible cause is that people may not all be using words in the same way, so it is useful to define the important terms (in this case incompatibility and mental cruelty). Tell what you think they mean and why you think so. Another frequent cause of disagreement is that people make different assumptions about what is right or about what matters in the case. See if you can discover such hidden disagreements, and bring them into the light. Who is right about these matters? If they can be cleared up, the discussion of the main issue can proceed.