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Purposes of Debate pt. 2: The Problems with Popular Alternative Paradigms (e.g., Resolutionism)
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...
Clarifying Questions
What would you say is the ideal cross-examination? Ideas like "a cross-examination that makes your opponents admit their faults" or "asking questions that strengthen your case" may come to mind. However, there's a unique feature of cross-examination that often goes...
Commit to Communicating the Hard Stuff
We Ethos coaches frequently hear despair about how judges receive theory-heavy arguments. There’s a perception that judges despise topicality, counterplans never win rounds, and hardly anybody has even heard of a kritik… and those who have heard of a kritik just think...
Turning a Good Speech Into a Winning Speech (Without Changing a Single Word)
My family and I adore soy sauce. We have soy sauce with our rice, soy sauce with our stir-fry, soy sauce in our noodle soup, and even soy sauce on our desert. Chinese food, (like most food out there) is terribly bland without some form of seasoning to enhance the...
Captivating Attention: The Importance of Opening Lines
“In this rebuttal, I want to go down the flow and refute everything my opponent has said thus far and explain why, at the end of the day, you should vote for me.” This line, in all of its iterations, is useless. For one thing, it is outstanding only in its mediocrity....
It’s Time To Stop Losing Rounds As Affirmative
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...
Purposes of Debate pt. 1: The Goals and Anti-Goals of Debate
Government team: “The purpose of debate is to have civil discussions about the topics before us.” Opposition team: “No, the primary purpose of competitive debate should be fair competition.” And so I listened as the teams spent chunks of the debate trying to debate...
In Defense of Topical Counterplans
A few months ago, for the first time in my Team Policy career, I wrote a Negative brief which centered around a topical counterplan. Having never attempted this before, I had to sit down for a good while and think through the theoretical justifications for such...
Answering Points of Information – Part 2
This is the second installment in a two part series about answering points of information. The first two rules can be found here. Last article we discussed how to setup points of information through transitioning and when to reject points of information. In this post...
Extemp Prep: The First 5 Minutes
“Speaker 4, 5 minutes remaining.” I glance nervously down at my card. My card stares obstinately back up at me. Both of our expressions are blank. Distressed, I pick up my pen and scratch as many words as possible into the 3" by 5" piece of paper. Just as my time...
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