by Nathan Wang | Jan 15, 2021 | Debate, From Intermediate to Advanced, Technique, Uncategorized
In almost every single video game, there is an objective. Maybe it’s to capture the point, defend the base, take their flag, or even score a goal or a touchdown. Throughout the course of the game, it doesn’t really matter how many kills you get, how...
by Harrison Durland | Jan 8, 2021 | Debate, Soapbox, Theory
In the previous article in this series, I discussed some of the flaws with paradigms that rigidly rely on things such as traditions/norms and rules as the foundational metric for good theory arguments, judging philosophies, or other choices in debate (e.g., which...
by Ben Brown | Jan 7, 2021 | Debate, From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, Negative, Research, Thinking Strategically, TP
Each year, my debate club requires every student to go through the NCFCA’s “Comprehensive Guide to Policy Debate” curriculum in the fall, regardless of experience level. Having read it multiple times before, I was skimming the week’s assigned chapter twenty or so...
by Nathan Wang | Jan 1, 2021 | Debate, From Intermediate to Advanced, Strategy, Uncategorized
Debate is like a game of chess. In chess, positioning is everything. You can be ahead in pieces and still be losing the game. Sometimes, it’s even worth it to sacrifice a rook or even a queen for a better position. You need to know which pieces to develop and at...
by Harrison Durland | Dec 25, 2020 | Debate, Soapbox, Theory
In my previous article I discussed some of the “goals and anti-goals of debate.” It was partially a standalone topic, but it also served as a lead-in to this broader series on what I’ve decided to call Pragmatism Theory (or just “Pragmatism”). This article still won’t...
by Jeremiah Mosbey | Dec 15, 2020 | Affirmatives, Debate, From Intermediate to Advanced, Research, TP
Affirmatives, you need to wake up. How did you divide your research time during the last few seasons? If you’re like most people, you wrote the 1AC early, gradually built your Aff Backup throughout the entire year, but dedicated every other waking moment to expanding...