by Anthony Severin | Jul 11, 2021 | Advocacy, Basics, Counterplans, Fiat, From Advanced to National-Class, Negative, Theory, Uncategorized
What must an affirmative team do to win a policy debate round? The affirmative should win if they convince the judge that the audience and the debaters are better off if the judge votes affirmative. Conversely, the negative should win if they convince the judge that...
by Anthony Severin | May 7, 2021 | Uncategorized
How many times have you heard it said that affirmatives must “solve beyond a reasonable doubt” or provide a net benefit “beyond a reasonable doubt”? This phrase, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” is a “standard of evidence”–it defines what the judge must believe to...
by Ben Brown | Apr 30, 2021 | Uncategorized
An absolute claim though it may be, I maintain that no speech or debate event is so commonly executed to such a poor degree as is impromptu speaking. This year, with so many tournaments being moved online, I’ve had the opportunity to watch several rounds in...
by Ben Brown | Feb 4, 2021 | Concept Analysis, Debate Blog, From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, Negative, Strategy, TP, Uncategorized
In part 1, we looked at the argument for net benefits being the superior framing as compared to the burden of proof in Team Policy. The short version is that 9 times out of 10, the burden of proof boils down to net benefits anyway. That is, first, if there’s a net...
by Ben Brown | Jan 21, 2021 | Uncategorized
Fact: during at least one of your affirmative rounds at every tournament you go to, the Negative team starts the 1NC by going over the burden of proof, if they didn’t already cover it during the preceding cross-ex. I myself went through this phase, giving the...
by Nathan Wang | Jan 15, 2021 | Debate Blog, 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...
