by Joshua Hu | Feb 21, 2018 | From Intermediate to Advanced, From Novice to Intermediate, Soapbox
The biggest tournaments of the season are quickly approaching. NITOC 2018 will take place in a little over three months, while NCFCA and NSDA Nationals are set to begin in four months. This may make some of you uneasy. Perhaps you’ve already qualified to NITOC, but...
by Anna Johansen | Feb 17, 2018 | Communication/Rhetoric, From Novice to Intermediate, Soapbox, Technique
Looming ten feet tall, their steps shattered paving stones. The rumble of their debate boxes sent panicked crowds fleeing. Several witnesses reported seeing them breathe fire on at least one occasion, and their refutation skills had been known to make small children...
by Harrison Durland | Jan 27, 2018 | Counterplans, From Advanced to National-Class, Negative, Strategy
Counterplans. I can’t think of a more divisive issue in policy debate. Recently, Joshua decided to brave these controversial waters, writing an article about some of the major generic counterplans you can run. In doing so, he prompts a very important follow up: how...
by Joshua Hu | Jan 24, 2018 | From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, Negative, Technique
In my last post, I laid out a clear case concerning why rebuttals deserve more attention from debaters, and listed five key fundamentals of national-class rebuttals. This post will look at the uniqueness of the rebuttal speeches, particularly in Policy &...
by Thaddeus Tague | Jan 20, 2018 | Coaching a Club, Negative, Research Tips, Thinking Strategically
Every style of policy debate operates from different and sometimes competing preconceptions and assumptions. At Ethos Debate, we run off several well-worn and sometimes overused phrases. One of those, we proudly tout, is that we teach debaters how to think, not what...
by Joshua Anumolu | Jan 17, 2018 | Communication/Rhetoric, Speech Events, Strategy
In my last post, I covered Reciprocity, the first “principle of persuasion” examined by Dr. Cialdini in his book Influence. In this post, I will discuss the contrast principle, another essential point covered by Cialdini. The contrast principle says that perception is...
