6
October
One of the things judges/coaches beat into debaters heads over and over again is that they need more explanation of things. Instead of explaining the importance of this instead I thought I would post some examples of how to explain things better.
1
September
While I am a true believer that 90 percent of debate tournament success comes in pre tournament preparation (good research, practice speeches, effective organization and block writing etc) the remaining 10 percent is obviously vital to your win/loss record and shiny speaker awards. This post is designed to help you be at your best for those [...]
29
August
Not an exhaustive list, but some of the ways to compare evidence and the reasons they are important. 1. Recency- certain uniqueness arguments, like the economy, can change rapidly. Having the most recent card on an issue is important if some event has occurred that will change forecasting or indicators. Lets pause of a second and [...]
26
August
This post will be in more 1AR form than nuanced explanation. Extend our offense- pics artificially inflate bad disads by creating any risk of a link analysis which skews research and pre round prep focus. We’ll defend the whole plan, but forcing us to defend isolated parts in a vacuum is unpredictable and doesn’t reflect [...]
24
August
If you are a 2A going into the first tournaments of this year you have a pretty good idea what you need to prepare for: cap k, coercion k, pov k, politics, states cp, agents, a few T arguments. Compared to last years topic where there were 20 different oil disads, 20 more natural gas [...]
13
August
Having come back from debate camp and judged approximately 25 or so debates in the last 4 or so weeks I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the good the bad and the ugly when it comes to HS debate. I’ve always had the motto and constantly tell my kids before their debates [...]
28
May
The National Catholic Forensic League held its annual Grand National Tournament this past weekend in Albany, New York. Featuring a mix of national circuit powerhouses and local teams from circuits across the nation, Catholic Nationals is one of the most unique tournaments on the high school policy debate calendar. Hosted every Memorial Day Weekend, it [...]
18
May
For most of you all the debate season has come to its conclusion and with school winding down (or completed for seniors) you all have an abundance of free time on your hands. While taking a break is definitely important to keep you sane and avoid burning out from debate, this time off can also [...]
16
May
In novice debate and any introduction to argumentation course students are taught the Toulmin model. In short the Toulmin model states that “Arguments must follow logically and therefore contain a claim and warrant”. Novice debaters are taught this with an emphasis because they prolific for their ability to advance claims but struggle to explain their [...]