From Novice to Intermediate
The Sweet Spot of Appeal
What to Do when Your Rankings are Consistently the Highest or Lowest in the Room Imagine coming out of a tournament, eagerly waiting for ballots, opening your envelope and seeing the cursed rankings… 1-8-8 in every single room. Your soul is crushed… The speech you...
Why Worse Plans Make for Better Cases
What makes a good affirmative case? Aside from one that wins, most debaters look for policies that they believe should be implemented in the real world, and more specifically, ones that create the most benefits. For instance, if one course of action would...
The Foundation of Impromptu
Every so often, I'm asked if there's any speech event that's a necessity to compete in. My answer is always the same: "Impromptu". Impromptu is an event that pushes your speaking style and thinking to the maximum. Learning the event is one of the most effective ways...
The Fallacious Fiat
If you’ve been in debate for any length of time, you’re probably well aware of the principle of fiat power. You’ve read about it in debate manuals, learned about it in camp, and probably even argued it in actual rounds. In fact, it’s even addressed in other Ethos...
How to Make Your Plan Text Fool-Proof (Literally)
Resolved: The United States Federal Government should add more seats to the supreme court. What are your first thoughts from reading this resolution? Well, if you think like me, you’re thinking about all the reasons why the supreme court needs more justices. My...
Guidelines to Dropped Arguments – Part 2
In the previous article, we discussed how you should "Give Your Opponent the Benefit of the Doubt" when it comes to dropped arguments and treat your point being unrefuted as "Additional Support, Not Standalone Proof". In this article, we'll be discussing three more...
Guidelines to Dropped Arguments – Part 1
In my second year of speech and debate, I had a favorite phrase: "My opponent dropped my argument." Whenever my opponent ignored the slightest bit of my analysis, I harped on it and even made it a voting issue. I wrote an elaborate script that I'd give every time my...
Make the Most Of Your Time in Speech and Debate – Diversify Events
"I wish I could come back just one more year." After Covid-19 cancelled the debate season, I heard that phrase countless times from my senior high school friends. "If only I had one more year." I've come to realize that the years you have in speech & debate are...
The Number One Way to Boost Consistency – Tagging
"No way I should've lost that round; I won every argument on the flow." "How did I lose? The judge ignored my most important argument!" "It's not my fault I lost; my logic was perfect." You've likely heard people justify their losses in these ways. Thoughts along...
Speed Tip Series: Making Speeches Speakable
Simpler is better. I don’t know why it took me five years to figure this out. After all, our nation was basically founded on the imperative “Never use two words when one will do.” Right? So why did I, an accomplished speaker, still stumble over phrases in my 1AC or...
Manufacturing Confidence
This is for every scared debater out there. I know how you feel. https://www.ethosdebate.com/confidence-fake-til-make/ https://www.ethosdebate.com/lessons-from-an-impostor-the-psychology-of-confidence/
When Your Life Is A Catchphrase
“Everybody here? Great. Anna, would you pray for us before we get started?” “Oh. Me? Oh. Yeah, sure! Um. Okay.” You know that moment when you’re handed something completely unexpected? When you’re strolling along a sunny lane and then a giant iguana shows up out of...
Speed Tip Series: Evidence and Examples
For TPers in the throes of tournament season, evidence can seem like the be-all, end-all. They desperately scrounge for cards and trade for briefs, then head off to a round, gripping those pages like they’re Ben Gates making off with the Declaration of Independence....
Midseason Blues
Here in the frigid wastelands of Chicago, spring can seem a long way off. Debaters everywhere know how that feels: we often hit plateaus where we lack motivation or feel like we'll never reach that next level. If you're looking for some midseason encouragement, you've...
Going on Offense: Spikes, Part 1
If you’ve ever played volleyball, you know the terror of a spike. A player slams the ball over the net so hard you have no hope of returning it. In debate, a spike is a little different, but still a powerful offensive tactic. Referring broadly to preemption, a spike...
