clash-+guide+to+effective+debating

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Clash! A Guide to Effective Debating

Clash! A Guide to Effective Debating......................................1Introduction: Why Debate?........................................................Cha ter 1: Introduction to Debate.............................................."

1.1 #he $esolution................................................................."%uestions for &ection 1.1...................................................'

1.( Contentions......................................................................'%uestions for &ection 1.(...................................................)

1. & eeches and Cross*E+a,ination....................................)%uestions for &ection 1. .................................................1-

1. Clai,s/ Warrants/ and I, acts......................................11%uestions for &ection 1. .................................................1(

1." $efutation.......................................................................1%uestions for &ection 1.".................................................1

1.0 lo2ing..........................................................................1"%uestions for &ection 1.0.................................................(-

1.' &ign osting....................................................................(-%uestions for &ection 1.'.................................................(1

Cha ter (: #he 3asics of 4olicy Debate..................................(((.1 Introduction to 4olicy Debate........................................((

%uestions for &ection (.1.................................................((.( 4lans and #o icality.......................................................(

%uestions for &ection (.(.................................................(0(. &toc5 Issues....................................................................(0

%uestions for &ection (. .................................................(6(. Cards..............................................................................()

&a, le Advantage 7I,,igrant 8ealth Care9.................. -%uestions for &ection (. ................................................. "

(." egative Disadvantages................................................. "&a, le DA 7& ending DA 1 C9..................................... 6%uestions for &ection (."................................................. (

(.0 ;n* and ;ff*Case Argu,ents........................................ (%uestions for &ection (.0.................................................

(.' E+tending Argu,ents.................................................... "%uestions for &ection (.'................................................. '

Cha ter : #he 3asics of


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.' I, act Calculus.............................................................''%uestions for &ection .'.................................................')

Cha ter ": 4lans and Counter lans..........................................6-".1 E+tra #o icality and Effects #o icality.........................6-

%uestions for &ection ".1.................................................6(".( #o icality =iolations.....................................................6(%uestions for &ection ".(.................................................6&a, le # =iolation 7 ederal 4overty ey Words and &earching...........................................11'.( Cutting and Citing Cards.............................................11

'. ootnotes and ollo2ing B ........................................11'. #agging and Bnderlining.............................................11'." Case Writing................................................................11'.0 rontlines and E+tensions............................................11'.' 3loc5s $evisited..........................................................11

A endi+ A: lo2ing Abbreviations.....................................11"A endi+ 3: Glossary of Debate #er,s................................11'

Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff (


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Introduction: Why Debate?

#hose years in debate 2ere the educational foundationof everything I did. And I don t ,ean that in so,e si, lefor,...I , saying the finest education I got fro, any of theinstitutions I attended/ the foundation of ,y ,ind that I gotduring those years of co, etitive olicy debate that is/)-F of the intellectual ca acity that I o erate 2ith today**ordha, BniversityH for college/ ordha, for the 4h.D./8arvard for la2 school**all of that is the other 1-F. **ohn &e+ton/ 4resident of B

4eo le debate for ,any different reasons. &o,e enJoythe o ortunity to s ea5 and be heard/ so,e li5e theco, etition/ so,e see5 to challenge the,selves/ and so,evalue the educational benefit of debate. @any eo le enJoydebate for all four reasons.

Debate offers an o ortunity to get u and s ea5 your,ind and have so,eone listen and care 2hat you say. Insteadof Just sitting in a classroo, and listening to a teacher/ you getto voice your o2n o inions. When the Judge decides thedebate/ it s based on the argu,ents you ,a5e and the othertea, ,a5es no ,atter 2hat the Judge really thin5s.

Debate is also/ for the ,ost art/ a co, etitive activity.When you debate in class/ you 2ill have the o ortunity toco, ete against your class,ates. If you do debate as ane+tracurricular activity/ you 2ill get to co, ete against otherschools. #he 2inner of a debate is not the ,ost o ularstudent it s the student 2ith the best argu,ents. #here s astrong relationshi bet2een ho2 hard you 2or5 at debate andho2 successful you are. @any eo le find this refreshing.

Debate can also be very challenging. #here are several

different debate events. &o,e tend to involve ,ore 2or5 andti,e co,,it,ent but/ in turn/ offer ,ore intellectualchallenge. At the highest levels/ debaters use argu,ents andevidence fro, hiloso hy/ olitics/ science/ and other fields to

su ort their side. Debate can e+ ose you to ,any ideas thatyou other2ise couldn t get until college.inally/ debate offers ,any educational benefits. As

the Kuote at the beginning of the introduction illustrates/ ,any eo le identify debate as one of the ,ost i, ortant educationale+ eriences in their life. Debaters go on to be successful in,any different fields/ es ecially la2.

a,ous or,er Debaters 1

#ed #urner 7o2ner of C 9

3ill Clinton/ $ichard i+on/ ernoff


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to issues instead of acce ting one vie2 oint as true. Debatershave a lot of ractice refuting/ co, aring/ and assessingargu,ents. #hey also learn to thin5 strategically.

Debate also i, roves infor,ation literacy/ es ecially

research s5ills. E+ erienced debaters do high*Kuality researchto su ort their argu,ents. 3y so,e esti,ates/ debaters at thehighest level of co, etition do as ,uch research as a graduatestudent earning a ,aster s degree or even a 4hD. #his researche+ erience ,a5es 2riting research a ers in college a breeLe.

3ecause of the educational benefits/ debate hel s ,anystudents get into college or earn scholarshi s. In an era ofgrade inflation/ colleges are ,ore and ,ore loo5ing to success

in e+tracurricular activities as a ,etric of achieve,ent. According to a Wall &treet ournal re ort/ being ca tain of adebate tea, i, roved an a licant s chances by ,ore than0-F co, ared 2ith the rest of the ool. 3y contrast/ being a

school ne2s a er 2riter/ s orts tea, ca tain/ or class residenti, roved the chance of ad,ission by "F or less.

Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff


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Chapter 1: Introduction to DebateIn this cha ter you 2ill learn the basic structure of a

debate round and a debate argu,ent. #here are severaldifferent ty es of debate that you ,ay artici ate in/ but all ofthe, are based on the sa,e funda,ental ideas.

#he essential Kuestions that you should 5ee in ,ind 2hilereading this cha ter:

1. What is a debate round li5e?(. What ,a5es a good argu,ent?. 8o2 does a Judge evaluate a debate?. 8o2 do I 2in a debate?

1.1 The ResolutionEvery debate begins 2ith a to ic for the artici ants to

argue over. #his to ic is called the resolution . Without aresolution/ tea,s ,ight tal5 about t2o different things. #hey2ouldn t be debating at all they 2ould Just be tal5ing.

ou have robably heard of e2 ear s resolutions.When you ,a5e a e2 ear s resolution/ you are ,a5ing astate,ent about a change you should ,a5e/ li5e going on adiet. athryn >ernoff "


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E+a, les of Aff and eg:

$esolved: An adolescent s right to rivacy ought to bevalued above a arent s conflicting right to 5no2.Aff: 4rivacy is ,ore i, ortant.

eg: #he right to 5no2 is ,ore i, ortant.$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent shouldsubstantially increase its alternative energy incentivesin the Bnited &tates.Aff: Alternative energy incentives are good.

eg: Alternative energy incentives are bad.

#here are three ,ain ty es of debate you ll be learningabout: olicy /


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different contention that says/ RBnifor,s violate the right tofree s eech.S Each of these contentions is a s ecific reason2hy unifor,s are bad.

&a, le Contentions:$esolved: =iolent video ga,es should be regulated.Aff: $egulation of violent video ga,es is good.Aff Contention 1: =iolent video ga,es ,a5e 5ids ,oreviolent.Aff Contention (: =ideo ga,es ,a5e 5ids obese

because they lay the, instead of s orts. eg: $egulation of violent video ga,es is bad. eg Contention 1: $egulating video ga,es Just ,a5es5ids 2ant to lay the, ,ore.

eg Contention (: $egulating video ga,es under,inesrights and freedo,s.

When 2e tal5 about contentions/ 2e ll often Justsu,,ariLe the ,ain idea li5e in the above e+a, les. In anactual debate/ s ea5ers su ort their contentions 2ith evidence and reasoning Just li5e the ,ain oints in an essay. #he ty eand a,ount of evidence you use de ends on the articulardebate. or the first fe2 days of class/ 2e ll do ,ini debates

2here you don t have to 2orry about doing research. ernoff 6


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;ffense and Defense:

Aff offense: &chool unifor,s increase acade,icachieve,ent 7the resolution is good9.Aff defense: &chool unifor,s don t cause students to

hate school 7the resolution is not bad9. eg offense: &chool unifor,s cause students to hateschool 7the resolution is bad9.

eg defense: &chool unifor,s don t increase acade,icachieve,ent 7the resolution is not good9.

uestions for ection 1"#1. Identify at least one aff and one neg contention for each

of the follo2ing resolutions:a. $esolved: #hat the Bnited &tates govern,ent

should substantially strengthen regulation ofi,,igration to the Bnited &tates.

b. $esolved: @ariJuana should be legaliLed.(. Identify one e+a, le of aff defense and one e+a, le of

neg defense for each of the resolutions in Kuestion 1.. Assu,e you are debating the to ic R$esolved: #he

death enalty is i,,oral.S athryn >ernoff )


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rebuttal s eeches:a. e2 evidence for e+isting argu,ents

b. e2 argu,entsc. e2 e+ lanation of e+isting argu,ents

(. Who s ea5s first and last?. I,agine you are debating about school unifor,s andthe other tea, reads the contention on . '. What arethree cross*e+a,ination Kuestions that you could as5?

1.4 Claims, Warrants, and Impactsou have racticed identifying aff and neg argu,ents.

8o2ever/ not all argu,ents are eKually strong. In fact/ ,anyof the argu,ents 2e ve identified so far are retty 2ea5. As an

e+a, le/ re,e,ber the argu,ent that school unifor,s reduceschool violence. 3y itself/ this is nothing ,ore than a claim .We haven t rovided any su ort to rove the clai, is true sothe argu,ent 2on t hel us at all.

#he second co, onent of an argu,ent is a 2arrant. Awarrant is a reason 2hy your argu,ent is true it often follo2sa 2ord li5e Rbecause.S ou can thin5 of a 2arrant as anans2er to the Kuestion RWhy?S or R8o2 do you 5no2?S

#y es of Warrants:

&tatistics%ualitative studies8istorical e+a, les 7also 5no2n as e, irical

e+a, les9athryn >ernoff 11


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is inJuries to students or even death.

E+a, le of Clai,/ Warrant/ and I, act:

Clai,: #he death enalty reduces violent cri,e.

Warrant: Cri,inals are less li5ely to co,,it a cri,e ifthey 5no2 they could die.I, act: If 2e 5ee the death enalty/ there 2ill befe2er cases of violent cri,e.

&trong 2arrants and i, acts are i, ortant for 2inningdebates. $e,e,ber/ a Judge evaluates the debate byco, aring the aff and neg contentions. When evaluating theaff s contentions/ the Judge considers both the i, act and ho2li5ely the aff is to revent the bad i, act fro, ha ening.When evaluating the neg s contentions/ the Judge considers

both the i, act and ho2 li5ely the aff is to cause the badi, act. Although debates can be co, licated/ the tea, 2iththe greatest li5elihood 7or robabilit$ 9 and i, act generally2ins. It s so,eti,es hel ful to thin5 of this nu,erically:

#he 3asic 4rinci les of udging:&trength of Aff Contentions V 4robability + I, act&trength of eg Contentions V 4robability + I, act

&trength of Aff Contentions Q &trength of egContentions VQ Aff Win&trength of eg Contentions &trength of AffContentions VQ eg Win

$eturning to the football analogy/ you can thin5 of the robability as the li5elihood that your lay 2ill succeed. #hisis influenced by ho2 2ell you re are your offense and by thestrength of the other tea, s defense. #he i, act is the nu,ber

of yards you can e+ ect to go if the lay 2or5s. #he highereach of these values is/ the better the lay is and the ,oreli5ely you are to 2in.


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Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff 10

AC NC 1AR NR 2AR


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4ara hrasing and Abbreviating:

ou hear: RBnifor,s reduce school violence becausestudents 2on t dis lay gang sy,bols.Sou ara hrase: Bnifor,s reduce violence U gangs.

ou 2rite: Bnif violou hear: RBnifor,s increase acade,ic achieve,ent Ustudents aren t distracted by clothesSou ara hrase: Bnifor,s increase acade,icachieve,ent U distractionsou 2rite: Bnif AA U distract

". lo2 everything you can and don t sto . &o,eti,es you ll,iss argu,ents or not understand the,. Don t 2orry. ust uta circle around the e, ty s ace or unclear argu,ent on yourflo2. ou can then as5 the other tea, about the ,issingargu,ent in cross*e+a,ination.

0. Bse your flo2 to lan your o2n argu,ents too. In thecolu,n for your ne+t s eech/ 2rite an abbreviated version ofyour res onse ne+t to every argu,ent. When you deliver yours eech/ be sure to elaborate and sign ost as necessary. Bsingthis ,ethod for lanning your s eech 2ill ensure that you givean organiLed s eech addressing all the necessary argu,ents.

Bsing our lo2 to 4lan Argu,ents:

ou 2rite: AA U hate schoolou say: #hey say unifor,s increase acade,icachieve,ent but actually they reduce it because

students 2ill start hating school if they have to 2ear aunifor,.ou 2rite: Win 3C viol ! U l dieou lan to say: We should 2in the debate because ourschool violence i, act is the ,ost i, ortant. It s theonly i, act that s actually a ,atter of life or death.

Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff 1)


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uestions for ection 1"'1. Assu,e you are debating R$esolved: &chool safety is

,ore i, ortant than the freedo, of students.S E+ lain

2hether each argu,ent 2ould go on the aff or neg sideof your flo2 in a athryn >ernoff (-


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&ign osting continues 2hen you refute and rebuild.ou ll 2ant to start by telling the Judge 2hat side of the flo2or sheet of a er you re on. or instance/ you ,ight say/ RI llstart by rebuilding ,y contentionsS or R o2/ on to the negcontentions.S #hen you ll 2ant to tell the, the s ecificargu,ents you re dealing 2ith. #he si, lest 2ay to do this isto recede your argu,ents 2ith R #hey say XS li5e you

racticed 2ith refutation. #his tells the Judge to flo2 yourargu,ent ne+t to the argu,ent you are refuting.

E+a, les of &ign osting

R@y first contention isXSR#here are t2o reasons for thisXSR#his is i, ortant for three reasonsXS

R o2 I ll res ond to their contentionsXSR#hey sayXS


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Chapter #: )he *asics of +olicy DebateIn this cha ter you 2ill learn the basic structure of a

olicy debate round. ou 2ill learn ho2 to ,a5e the ,ain

ty es of aff and neg argu,ents in olicy debate. ou 2ill alsolearn so,e of the ,ost i, ortant olicy debate Jargon.


1. What is a olicy debate round li5e?(. What ,a5es olicy debate different fro, other 5inds of

debate?. 8o2 do the aff and neg 2in 2ith advantages and

disadvantages?

. What are so,e argu,ents for and against rovidingsocial services to eo le in overty?

2.1 Introduction to 'olic( )e*ateIn olicy debate/ you 2ill use all of the ideas you

learned in Cha ter 1. 8o2ever/ olicy debate is different fro,the debates you have been doing so far in class. It is ,oretechnical and s ecialiLed 2ith less e, hasis on ersuasion andrhetorical s5ills. @any la2yers/ ,e,bers of Congress/ andacade,ics find that olicy debate is e+cellent training.

In class/ you have debated ,any different 5inds ofresolutions. In olicy debate/ the resolution is al2ays astate,ent that a change should be ,ade. & ecifically/ they areabout changes in govern,ent olicy. Every olicy debateresolution since (--- has begun 2ith the hrase R#he Bnited&tates federal govern,ent shouldXS #he Bnited &tates federalgovern,ent 7B& G for short9 is the govern,ent inWashington/ D.C. 2ith o2er over the 2hole country. It

includes 4resident ;ba,a/ federal agencies li5e theEnviron,ental 4rotection Agency 7E4A9/ Congress/ and thefederal courts.

&a, le 4olicy Debate $esolutions:$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent shouldsubstantially increase social services for ersons livingin overty in the Bnited &tates 7(--)*(-1-9$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent shouldsubstantially increase alternative energy incentives inthe Bnited &tates 7(--6*(--)9$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent shouldsubstantially increase its ublic health assistance to&ub*&aharan Africa 7(--'*(--69

$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent shouldestablish a olicy substantially increasing the nu,ber of

ersons serving in one or ,ore of the follo2ingnational service rogra,s: A,eriCor s/ CitiLen Cor s/&enior Cor s/ 4eace Cor s/


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go to a tourna,ent in #e+as/ California/ or even 8a2aii andthey 2ill have the sa,e to ic as you. #his ,ay see, boring

but actually each debate is co, letely different. ou 2ill learn,ore about 2hy in the ne+t section.

4olicy debate is al2ays t2o*on*t2o/ 2ith one tea, oft2o aff debaters and one tea, of t2o neg debaters. Eachdebater gets one constructive s eech and one rebuttal s eech.Each debater gets to as5 Kuestions in one cross*e+a,ination and ans2er Kuestions in another cross*e+a,ination. At ,osttourna,ents/ each tea, gets 6 ,inutes of re aration ti,e touse throughout the debate.

Table *olic$ Debate "tructure

irst Aff Constructive 7 1 C 9 6 ,in 1 st aff s ea5er Cross*e+a,ination 7CT9 ,in ( nd neg Kuestions 1 st

aff irst eg Constructive 7 1+C 9 6 ,in 1 st neg s ea5er Cross*e+a,ination 7CT9 ,in 1 st aff Kuestions 1 st

neg&econd Aff Constructive7! C 9

6 ,in ( nd aff s ea5er

Cross*e+a,ination 7CT9 ,in 1 st neg Kuestions ( nd aff

&econd eg Constructive7!+C 9

6 ,in ( nd neg s ea5er

Cross*e+a,ination 7CT9 ,in ( nd aff Kuestions ( nd neg

irst eg $ebuttal 7 1+R 9 " ,in 1 st neg s ea5er irst Aff $ebuttal 7 1 R 9 " ,in 1 st aff s ea5er &econd eg $ebuttal 7 !+R 9 " ,in ( nd neg s ea5er &econd Aff $ebuttal 7 ! R 9 " ,in ( nd aff s ea5er

ou ,ay notice a cou le of things about olicy debate.irst/ the constructive and rebuttal s eeches are 6 and ",inutes res ectively. #his ,ay see, li5e a really long ti,e tofill u . In reality/ a good olicy debater 2ill tell you it s neverenough ti,e. When you learn ,ore about ho2 evidence isused in olicy debate/ you 2ill get a better idea of ho2 you fillu your ti,e.

&econd/ you ,ay notice that each s eech has anabbreviated na,e in arentheses. #his abbreviated na,e starts2ith either 1 or (/ de ending on 2hether it is the tea, s first orsecond constructive or rebuttal. e+t/ the abbreviated na,ehas either RAS for aff or R S for neg. inally/ the na,e haseither RCS for constructive or R$S for rebuttal. & eeches areal,ost al2ays called their abbreviated na,es because they re,uch shorter and easier.

#hird/ you ,ay notice that each debater has a s ecificcross*e+a,ination to as5 Kuestions. #he debater that is notabout to s ea5 is al2ays the one as5ing Kuestions. If you arenot as5ing Kuestions/ you should use this ti,e to lan your ne+ts eech.

inally/ you ,ay notice that there are t2o neg s eechesin a ro2 in the ,iddle of the debate. #his is becausetraditionally the aff al2ays gets to s ea5 first and last. Eachtea, still gets the sa,e a,ount of s eech ti,e. #he t2os eeches in a ro2/ the ( C and 1 $/ are often collectivelycalled the neg bloc5 or Just the bloc, . In order to revent theneg fro, re eating itself/ they are basically treated as one bigs eech in t2o arts.



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uestions for ection #"11. E+ lain 2hether each of the follo2ing is art of the

Bnited &tates federal govern,ent:

a. ;ba,a b. #he governor of Connecticutc. #he &u re,e Courtd. #he a,bassador fro, @e+icoe. #he B& De art,ent of Educationf. Connecticut s t2o senators

(. Identify the aff and neg side of the to ic about overty on . (-.

. What should you do 2hen it s not your turn to as5cross*e+a,ination Kuestions?

. What is the neg bloc5?". 4ic5 a resolution on . (- and 2rite t2o affir,ative and

t2o negative contentions .

2.2 'lans and Topicalit( $e,e,ber/ the sa,e olicy debate to ic is used all

year/ all across the country. 8o2ever/ this does not ,ean thatevery debate is the sa,e. In each debate/ the aff resents as ecific lan to narro2 do2n the to ic. #ea,s usually debate

,any different lans at each tourna,ent and doLens ofdifferent lans over the course of the year.A lan is a s ecific e+a, le of the resolution.

Debating the 2hole resolution 2ould be so broad that it 2ould be i, ossible to have any ,eaningful clash . As a result/ theaff gets to choose one lan that they 2ant to defend. #he negthen has to attac5 that lan s ecifically/ not the resolution ingeneral. #he neg s Job is to rove that the status uo / or the2ay things are right no2/ is better than the lan. 3y defending

the status Kuo/ the neg roves there is no need for change to be,ade.

&a, le 4lans for the 4overty $esolution:

$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent shouldsubstantially increase social services for ersons livingin overty in the Bnited &tates 7(--)*(-1-94lan: #he Bnited &tates De art,ent of 8ousing andBrban Develo ,ent should double funding for housing

rogra,s for eo le living in overty in the Bnited&tates.4lan: #he Bnited &tates Congress should i, le,ent auniversal health care rogra, that rovides free healthinsurance for eo le living in overty in the Bnited

&tates.#he Bnited &tates &u re,e Court should rule thatdenying @edicaid coverage of abortions is a violationof the 1 th A,end,ent right to eKual rotection. '

#he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent should reKuireschools to rovide free brea5fast to students that Kualifyfor free and reduced* rice lunch.#he Bnited &tates federal govern,ent should e+tend@edicaid to ,a5e undocu,ented i,,igrants eligible.

ou ,ay notice that the sa, le lans are all aboutsocial services but the details are very different. #here areso,e argu,ents/ called generics / 2hich you can ,a5e againstall of the,. or instance/ they all robably s end ,oney. Atthe sa,e ti,e/ debating school lunch is very different than

' @edicaid is a rogra, that rovides health insurance for lo2*inco,e individuals and fa,ilies. It is different fro, @edicare/2hich rovides health insurance for the elderly.



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debating @edicaid funding for abortion.ou ,ay also notice that ,any of the lans don t say

RBnited &tates federal govern,ent.S Instead/ they use s ecificagents li5e the De art,ent of 8ousing and BrbanDevelo ,ent/ Congress/ or the &u re,e Court. #hese are all

arts of the federal govern,ent. & ecifying a articular agentcan be strategic if you have a reason 2hy that agent 2ould be agood one to use. &o,e tea,s s ecify an agent and so,e don t.

o ,atter 2hat lan the aff chooses it has to fall underthe resolution. #his obligation is called to icality. To icalit$ ,eans the lan is art of the to ic/ or the resolution. ou canchec5 2hether a lan is to ical by loo5ing at all the 2ords inthe resolution. #he overty to ic is/ R$esolved: #he Bnited&tates federal govern,ent should substantially increase socialservices for ersons living in overty in the Bnited &tates.S Ifa lan violates any art of the resolution/ it s not to ical.

#o icality for the 4overty $esolution:

R$esolved: #he Bnited &tates federal govern,entshouldXS U the lan ,ust be done by so,e art of theBnited &tates federal govern,ent/ not the state of

Connecticut or the country of China.RXsubstantiallyXS U the lan ,ust be so,ething largeenough to be ,eaningful/ not giving one ho,eless

erson one dollar.RXincreaseXS U the lan ,ust ,a5e ,ore socialservices available/ not lessRXsocial servicesXS U the lan ,ust rovide socialservices li5e health care/ housing/ or food. ust giving,oney is robably not a social service.RXfor ersons living in overtyXS U the lan ,ust

rovide social services s ecifically for eo le in overty/ not rich or ,iddle*class eo le.RXin the Bnited &tatesS U the lan ,ust give socialservices to eo le in overty in the B&/ not in @e+ico.

#he neg can challenge 2hether a lan is to ical byreading a to icalit$ violation . A to icality violation is a 2ayof roving that the aff is non-to ical . #he neg arguesto icality as a voting issue / ,eaning that if they 2in theirto icality violation/ the Judge has to vote for the, regardless ofthe rest of the debate. 3ecause so,e 2ords in the resolutioncan be a,biguous/ challenges to the aff s to icality actuallyha en very freKuently. or instance/ so,e eo le defineRsocial servicesS so that it includes ublic housing roJects andso,e e+clude housing. #he neg could challenge the first lanon . (( by saying it s not a social service.

Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff ("


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#o ical and on*#o ical 4lans

A non-topicalplan

A topicalplan

Anothertopicalplan

The boundariesof the topic -notice the gray

areas

As you learned earlier/ debaters abbreviate ,any 2ordsto ,a5e flo2ing easier. Bsually/ to icality is abbreviated 2ith

Just the letter #/ circled. As a result/ olicy debaters often callto icality R#S and call a to icality violation a R# violation.Sou can call it to icality/ but this 2ay if the other tea, readsR#/S you 5no2 2hat they ,ean.

Table . Common *olic$ 'lowing bbreviations U #o icality # U on*to ical l U 4lan

&% U &tatus Kuo sbs U &ubstantial B& G U Bnited&tates federalgovern,ent

ss U &ocial&ervices

ov U 4overty 4


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Judge reasons to vote for the, Just li5e you learned in the firstcha ter. ;ne difference is that in olicy debate the contentions are reasons the s ecific lan is good/ rather than reasons theresolution in general is good. If your lan is about health care/you shouldn t start tal5ing about 2hy school brea5fast is good.In olicy debate/ the s ecific reasons the aff gives for 2hy the

lan is a good idea are called advantages .If you are debating the overty to ic/ the ,ost obvious

advantage is reducing overty. It s suggested by theresolution. #he aff can clai, that roviding health care/housing/ or food to eo le in overty 2ill revent the, fro,having to s end their o2n ,oney on these things/ ,a5ing the,less oor. Also/ the aff can say that overty 2ill be easier to

bear if there s food/ ,edical care/ or shelter available.While this is the ,ost obvious advantage/ it is not the

only advantage. If you re creative/ you can thin5 of ,any otherreasons 2hy your s ecific lan ,ight be good. or e+a, le/ ifyour lan rovides health insurance/ you should robably havean advantage about the s read of disease. ou could say thatfree health care ,a5es eo le ,ore 2illing to go to the doctorso contagious diseases are caught early before they s read.ou could also have an advantage about the econo,y becausesic5 eo le are un roductive. one of these advantages isabout overty but that s o5ay. Advantages don t have to beto ical . ;nly lans have to be to ical.

4ossible Advantages for a 8ealth Care 4lan:

4overtyDiseaseEcono,ic Gro2th

#o turn one of these ideas into a 2inning advantage/you need to rove several things. irst/ you need to rove that

there is so,e sort of roble, or %arm in the status Kuo. Ifeverything is great right no2/ there is no need to do the aff

lan. ou need to rove that there is a lot of overty or diseaseno2 or that the econo,y is doing oorly no2. ou can also

rove that har, is co,ing in the near future. or instance/ youcould say that the econo,y is going to decrease soon if the

lan is not enacted. As you learned fro, the Judging for,ulain the first cha ter/ bigger i, acts hel the aff 2in. As aresult/ the aff 2ants to rove that the har, is really/ really bad.

&econd/ you need to rove that the roble, is not goingto go a2ay on its o2n. If the status Kuo is going to ta5e care ofthe roble, soon/ there s not a very strong reason to do the

lan. &o,e eo le call this in%erenc$ . If a roble, isinherent in the status Kuo/ it ,eans it s not going a2ay 2ithoutthe lan. or instance/ you could say that none of the currentanti* overty ,easures are effectively addressing overty.

#hird/ you need to rove that the lan effectively getsrid of the roble,. #his is called solvenc$ . In other 2ords/ the

lan has to solve the har,. If the lan is not effective/ it s retty ointless. If your advantage is disease/ you need to rove the lan revents or slo2s the s read of disease. If youradvantage is econo,ic gro2th/ you need to rove that the lancould hel the econo,y or revent it fro, declining in thefuture.

4arts of an Advantage:Inherency8ar,s&olvency

All three co, onents of an advantage need to besu orted 2ith 2arrants . As you 2ill learn later in thischa ter/ the aff reads evidence in the 1AC to su ort these

Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff ('


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2arrants. #hese three co, onents/ along 2ith to icality/ arecalled stoc, issues because they are the basic/ or stoc5/ thingsthe aff usually has to rove to 2in. 6 #o icality is different thanthe other three because the aff doesn t have to rove it unlessthe neg challenges it first. If you thin5 about it/ you can

robably co,e u 2ith a convenient acrony, for re,e,beringthe stoc5 issues.

&toc5 Issues:&olvency8ar,sInherency#o icality

eg defense in olicy debate ,eans refuting the affadvantages. #his alone is usually not enough to 2in butdefense is an i, ortant art of 2inning.


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2.4 Cards&o far/ you have learned about all the different arts of

an advantage. 8o2ever/ you have only really learned about the

clai,s. It s not enough to Just say things li5e/ R#he status Kuois not solving overtyS or/ R;ur lan solves overty.S ouhave to rove these things are true. 4olicy debaters use cards / 2hich are Kuotes fro, Kualified sources/ to rove ,ost of their

oints. A iece of evidence is called a card because/ beforeco, uters and hotoco iers 2ere 2idely available/ debaters2ould hand 2rite Kuotes on inde+ cards and use the, in theirs eeches. Debate has gone a long 2ay since then/ but the na,eRcardS has stuc5 around.

&a, le Card:

A card has several arts. irst/ a card has a tag. #hetag su,,ariLes 2hat the card says. It s sort of li5e a to icsentence in an essay. It gives the Judge an idea of 2hy you rereading the card and 2hy it s i, ortant. In this e+a, le thetag is/ REcono,ic decline causes nuclear 2ar.S

#he second art of a card is the citation / or cite forshort. #he citation is the source of the card/ li5e you 2ould utin your bibliogra hy if you 2ere 2riting a a er. #he citationshould include all the infor,ation needed to find a card but youdon t need to read all of that in a debate. In a debate/ tea,susually Just read the author s last na,e 7@ead9/ the date 71))(or )(9 and so,eti,es the author s Kualifications. $eading theKualifications i, roves the Kuality of your evidence and yourcredibility 2ith the Judge. otice these things have been

bolded.inally/ the card includes the te+t of the boo5/ article/ or

2eb age itself. #his ,ay be as short as one aragra h or aslong as one or t2o ages. #here s not enough ti,e to read allthe te+t in a debate so usually so,e arts of a card areunderlined . ou only read the underlined arts. o2 that you5no2 2hat cards are/ you can see a sa, le advantage on ages(6* (.

4arts of a Card:#agCite#e+t of the card 2ith underlining

Co yright (--) >athryn >ernoff ()

/conomic decline causes nuclear warWalter $ussell #ead / "enior Counselor at t%e 0orld*olic$ nstitute / 1) 2! / e2 4ers ectives %uarterly/ . -.

8undreds of ,illionsYbillionsYof eo le around the 2orldhave inned their ho es on the international ,ar5et econo,y.#hey and their leaders have e,braced ,ar5et rinci lesYanddra2n closer to the WestYbecause they believe our syste,

can 2or5 for the,. 3ut 2hat if it can t? What if the globalecono,y stagnatesYor even shrin5s? In that case/ 2e 2illface a ne2 era of international conflict: &outh against orth/rich against oor/ $ussia/ China/ IndiaYthese countries 2iththeir billions of eo le and nuclear 2ea ons 2ill ose a ,uchgreater danger to the 2orld order than Ger,any and a an inthe Z -s.


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a,ple Advantage -I,,igrant .ealth Care/

3ac, of ade uate federal reimbursement for uninsured immigrants %as caused aneconomic crisis for %os itals$yan 4nutson / Articles Editor/ 3oston College #hird World


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T%is crisis is escalating and will s ill over to colla se t%e econom$3rian 4le er / 4hDO8ealthcare @ar5et Analyst and David 4ibbe / @.D./ O1'O(-- 2 7R#he

Intensifying Colla se of the 8ealth Care &yste,/ Why It s Different #his #i,e/ and What We eed to #hin5 About Along the Way.Shtt :OOhealth olicyand,ar5et.blogs ot.co,O(--)O- Ointensifying*colla se*of*health*care.ht,l9As coverage erodes/ 2e are ,ost concerned about the hos itals and health syste,s that are theanchor health care resources in ,ost co,,unities. With the econo,y and stoc5s tan5ing/ theinvest,ent inco,e that 2as 5ee ing ,any health syste,s afloat has disa eared. #he ran5s ofthe uninsured and underinsured have e+ loded/ so unco, ensated care costs and bad debt ares5yroc5eting. e2 health syste,s have gotten serious about huge su ly chain ,argins/ often

north of "- ercent/ so there s no2here to turn in the short ter,. While safety net short ter,acute care facilities have been under duress for ,any years/ no2 these trends are cons iring toalso threaten the co,,unity facilities that cater to those 2ith ,ore resources. ;ne recent surveyof /"-- health syste,s/ ublished before the econo,y really began to lu,,et/ found that ,orethan half 2ere technically insolvent or at ris5 of insolvency. As the econo,y has 2orsened/and Jobs and ,oney eva orate/ ,any atients are brea5ing hysician a oint,ents or are unableto ay for services received. 3ad debt has beco,e ,uch ,ore of a roble, for hysician

ractices/ so ,any have beco,e ,ore aggressive in collections . We have received anecdotal re ortsthat so,e hysician ractices are de,anding ay,ent in full rior to rocedures/ and are balance*billing their health

lan atients in direct violation of their contractual agree,ents. #he health lans aren t ositioned to olice every ractice s olicies. 3ut if this trend is 2ides read in the syste,/ it suggests that the niceties of business ractice aregoing by the 2ayside as ractices struggle to ,aintain. inally/ the co,bination of health coverage erosion and highcare costs is fueling an ar,s race that/ until fi+es are in lace/ atients 2ill lose. #he t2o fastest gro2ing seg,entsof the health care financial sector are individual credit scoring and collections/ s ecifically ai,ed at ca turingavailable dollars for the syste,. In this econo,y/ aggressive collections ractices 2ill drive ,any ,ore atients into

ban5ru tcy/ intensifying consu,er dissatisfaction and further fueling the engines of change. Is 8ealth Care A3ursting 3ubble? ;ne of us recently had a ." hour diagnostic rocedure at a local hos ital out atient surgery

center. #he E;3 7E+ lanation of 3enefits9 fro, the health lan sho2ed the hos ital had sub,itted a facility chargeof Just over \1 /--- * ,ore than four ,onths of total inco,e for one*third of A,erican households * and the health lan aid a ro+i,ately \1/ --/ 2hich ,eans that 2illing vendors and urchasers agreed that the rocedure s,ar5et value 2as 1-F of the charge. 3ut 2ithout insurance/ 2e 2ould have been legally res onsible for that bill/


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/conomic colla se causes 0orld 0ar T%ree#ead6 2 U 8enry A. >issinger &enior ello2 in B.&. oreign 4olicy at the Council on oreign

$elations7Walter $ussell/ R;nly @a5es ou &tronger/S #he e2 $e ublic/ (O O-)/htt :OO222.tnr.co,O oliticsOstory.ht,l?idV"'1cbbb)*(66'* d61*6" (*)(e6 )1"f"f6^ V( 9

one of 2hich ,eans that 2e can Just sit bac5 and enJoy the recession. 8istory ,ay suggest thatfinancial crises actually hel ca italist great o2ers ,aintain their leads**but it has other/ lessreassuring ,essages as 2ell. If financial crises have been a nor,al art of life during the --*year rise of the liberal ca italist syste, under the Anglo hone o2ers/ so has 2ar. #he 2ars of

the


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"tates s%oulder t%e costs now 7 onl$ a c%ange in federal olic$ restores t%e s$stemAdrianne Ortega / (-- 2 7 .D. 3oston B/ @.4.8. 3oston B &chool of 4ublic 8ealth. R. . . And

8ealth Care or All: I,,igrants in the &hado2 of the 4ro,ise of Bniversal 8ealth Care.S "A,. .


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otice ho2 the tea,s use cards to su ort all of theirclai,s. #his is co,,on in constructive s eeches. #he 1AC isgenerally ,ade u entirely of cards along 2ith the lan. #he1 C is generally al,ost all cards. As the debate ,ovesfor2ard/ each s eech usually relies a little less on cards and alittle ,ore on analysis or co, arison of cards that have already

been read. #his illustrates that cards are very i, ortant in olicy debate.

#he ractice of finding evidence and turning it intocards is called cutting cards . ou 2ill learn ,ore about ho2to do this later. If you 2ant to get ractice cutting cards no2/one of the best resources is Google e2s 7ne2s.google.co,9.ou can search ne2s a ers fro, all around the 2orld and ,ostof the, are free to read. If you 5no2 2hat s going on in the2orld/ you 2ill be able to ,a5e the ,ost u *to*date*argu,entsabout the to ic. #his is articularly hel ful 2hen it co,es todebating disadvantages/ 2hich you 2ill learn about in the ne+tsection.

uestions for ection #"%1. Identify the inherency/ har,s/ and solvency in the

sa, le advantage(. Cut a card on any subJect. It s usually easy to find

articles 2ith good cards by doing a search on Google e2s 7ne2s.google.co,9.

. Give your card a citation and a tag.

. Bnderline your card.". Why are cards underlined?

2. e%ati e )isad anta%esIn olicy debate/ the neg resents disadvantages to the

lan Just li5e the aff resents advantages to it. A disadvantage is a reason the lan is a bad idea. Disadvantages are oftencalled RdisadsS or RDAsS because these are co,,on flo2ingabbreviations for the,.


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#he ne+t art of the disad is the internal lin5. #heinternal lin, is everything bet2een the lin5 and the i, act. Itis the lin5 bet2een those t2o arts of the disad. #he internallin5 for the s ending disad is/ R& ending lots of ,oney crashesthe econo,y.S &o,eti,es disads have several internal lin5s

because it ta5es several ste s to connect the lin5 to the i, act.&o,eti,es they don t have one at all because you can godirectly fro, the lin5 to the i, act.

4arts of a Disad:

BniKueness


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olitical ca ital is necessary to ass health care refor,.


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a,ple DA - pending DA 10C/

9 Congress is controlling its s ending now 7 re-instatement of a$-go roves&teny :o$er / 8ouse @aJority


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2as rolled out in @arch. #he higher rates for govern,ent borro2ing have ,any li5ely causes/ and so,e ofthose reflect i, rove,ent in financial ,ar5ets. or e+a, le/ as investors have beco,e ,oreco,fortable investing in ris5y assets such as stoc5s/ they have been 2illing to ,ove ,oneyout of safe B.&. #reasury bonds and into other invest,ents . 3ut other reasons for the shift are less

ositive. Investors are also 2orried that Congress and the ;ba,a ad,inistration 2ill continueto rely heavily on borro2ed ,oney to fund the govern,ent and thus are de,anding a higher

re,iu, to lend it ,oney. #hese increases a ear to reflect concerns about large federaldeficits/ 3ernan5e said in his testi,ony/ before na,ing other causes that are also laying a role. &o,eanalysts 2orry that the ed 2ill succu,b to olitical ressure in the future to effectively rint ,oney to fundgovern,ent borro2ing ** a rocess 5no2n as ,onetiLing the debt. #2o congress,en raised that ossibility e+ licitly inyesterday s hearing. #his can be a dangerous olicy ,i+. #he #reasury is issuing debt. And the central ban5 is buying it/

said $e . 4aul D. $yan 7$*Wis.9. It gives the alar,ing i, ression that the B.&. one day ,ight begin to ,eet itsfinancial obligations by si, ly rinting ,oney. And 2e all 5no2 2hat ha ens to a country that chooses to ,onetiLeits debt. It gets runa2ay inflation/ a gradual erosion of 2or5ers aychec5s and fa,ily savings. 3ernan5e said that the edta5es its olitical inde endence seriously/ and 2hile it is no2 focused on using all the tools at its dis osal to ease the ainof the recession/ it 2ill res ond aggressively if inflation beco,es a roble,. #he ed has given no strong indication of2hether it 2ill e+ and its urchases of #reasury bonds. Without doing so/ though/ the ed 2ould have less fle+ibility tosti,ulate the econo,y. It has already cut a 5ey interest rate it controls to nearly Lero. #hey definitely have less lee2ay to

buy ,ore #reasury bonds/ said @ichael eroli/ an econo,ist at .4. @organ Chase . #he ed hasn t done a stellar Job ofco,,unicating its strategy 2ith the bond urchases/ 2hich/ he argued/ has allo2ed the discussion to be do,inated by

eo le 2ho argue that the ed s actions are effectively ,onetiLing the debt. Doing so 2ould increase the ,oney

su ly/ thereby 2ea5ening the dollar and leading to high inflation. ;ne thing that 2ould hel assuage thosefears 2ould be for govern,ent leaders to signal that they 2ill ,anage the nation s finances 2ell in the longrun. #hat 2ould tend to 5ee long*ter, interest rates lo2/ 2hich in turn 2ould hel encourage an econo,icrecovery. 3ernan5e/ as is his habit/ did not reco,,end s ecific 2ays that Congress should ai, to reduce long*ter, budget deficits he vie2s ta+ and s ending decisions as the do,ain of elected officials . In the end/ thefunda,ental decision that the Congress/ the ad,inistration and the A,erican eo le ,ustconfront is ho2 large a share of the nation s econo,ic resources to devote to federalgovern,ent rogra,s/ including entitle,ent rogra,s/ 3ernan5e said. Crucially / 2hatever siLeof govern,ent is chosen/ ta+ rates ,ust ulti,ately be set at a level sufficient to achieve ana ro riate balance of s ending and revenues in the long run .

nvestor confidence decline colla ses t%e econom$
http://financial.washingtonpost.com/custom/wpost/html-qcn.asp?dispnav=business&mwpage=qcn&symb=JPM&nav=elhttp://financial.washingtonpost.com/custom/wpost/html-qcn.asp?dispnav=business&mwpage=qcn&symb=JPM&nav=elhttp://financial.washingtonpost.com/custom/wpost/html-qcn.asp?dispnav=business&mwpage=qcn&symb=JPM&nav=el


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govern,ent debt / for instance/ ,ight send long*ter, bond yields higher rather than lo2er . Whatshould olicy,a5ers do? A sudden fit of fiscal austerity 2ould be a ,ista5e. Even 2hen econo,ies sto shrin5ing/they 2ill stay 2ea5. a an s e+ erience in 1))'/ 2hen a rise in consu, tion ta+es ushed the econo,y bac5 intorecession/ is a re,inder that a rush to fiscal tightening is counter roductive/ es ecially after a ban5ing bust. Insteadof slashing their deficits no2 / the rich 2orld s govern,ents need to ro,ise / credibly/ that they 2illdo so once their econo,ies are stronger . issinger &enior ello2 in B.&. oreign 4olicy at the Council on oreign $elations7Walter $ussell/ R;nly @a5es ou &tronger/S #he e2 $e ublic/ (O O-)/htt :OO222.tnr.co,O oliticsOstory.ht,l?idV"'1cbbb)*(66'* d61*6" (*)(e6 )1"f"f6^ V( 9 8istory ,ay suggest that financial crises actually hel ca italist great o2ers ,aintain their leads**but it has other/less reassuring ,essages as 2ell. If financial crises have been a nor,al art of life during the --*year rise of theliberal ca italist syste, under the Anglo hone o2ers/ so has 2ar. #he 2ars of the


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inally/ the i, act is that health care refor, revents alot of eo le fro, dying of disease. $e,e,ber/ health carerefor, is Just one e+a, le of a olitical ca ital disad. It can beabout anything ;ba,a 2ants to s end olitical ca ital on.

4olitical Ca ital Disad:BniKueness: ;ba,a has enough olitical ca ital to asshealth care refor,


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uestions for ection #"&1. Identify the uniKueness/ lin5/ internal lin5/ and i, act

in the sa, le DA.(. What does uniKueness ,ean? Give an e+a, le. Why is it necessary to rove that a disad is uniKue?. What is the internal lin5? 8o2 ,any internal lin5s

does a disad have?". I,agine you are debating a lan that rovides school

brea5fast. ou 2ant to argue a olitical ca ital disadthat says the lan revents ;ba,a fro, using his

olitical ca ital to fund 2ind and solar o2er. Writeout 2hat each art of your disad 2ould say.

0. Write four aff res onses to the olitical ca ital disad.

2." n- and !!-Case /r%umentsIn the 1AC/ the aff tea, reads their lan and their

advantages. #hey su ort each advantage 2ith ,any cards that rove inherency/ har,s/ and solvency. All of this U thecontents of the 1AC U is called the aff case .

In the 1 C/ the neg does t2o things. irst/ they readtheir o2n disads and so,eti,es to icality violations. #heseare neg offense. #hese ty es of argu,ents are called off-casearguments because they do not directly clash 2ith the aff case.

In the 1 C/ the neg should also refute each of the affadvantages. Argu,ents that directly refute advantages arecalled on-case arguments . @ost on*case argu,ents are negdefense. It s actually ossible to have on*case argu,ents thatare offense. When you refute 2ith offense/ it s called a turn . A turn is li5e an interce tion in football. Although the othertea, started the lay/ you gain yards. or e+a, le/ you couldturn the s ending disad arguing that s ending lots of ,oney

actually hel s the econo,y by sti,ulating it.Bnderstanding the difference bet2een on* and off*case

argu,ents is i, ortant because it influences flo2ing andsign osting . In olicy debate/ each off*case argu,ent should

be flo2ed on a se arate sheet of a er. #his ,ay see,e+cessive no2 but 2hen you get better at debate each sheet of

a er 2ill be full of argu,ents. If you don t flo2 on se aratesheets of a er/ your flo2s 2ill be too cro2ded and confusing.Each advantage should also be flo2ed on a se arate sheet of

a er. ;n*case argu,ents should be flo2ed ne+t to theadvantage they are refuting. If there are ( advantages and t2odisads/ there should be at least flo2s .)

When you give the road ,a for the 1 C/ it scusto,ary to first tell the Judge ho2 ,any off*case argu,entsyou re going to read. ou don t need to tell the, the na,es.3y telling the, the nu,ber/ you let the, 5no2 ho2 ,any ne2sheets of a er they ll need. ou can do this by sayingso,ething li5e/ RI ll read off*case argu,ents.S #his is oftenabbreviated to Just R off.S &econd/ tell the Judge 2hat orderyou 2ill use to address the advantages. #his tells the, ho2they should arrange their advantage flo2s.

) &o,eti,es tea,s have e+tra contentions. #hey ,ight have acontention to res ond to an argu,ent the neg ,ay ,a5e later.#hey ,ight also have inherency or solvency as a se aratecontention. #hese should also have their o2n sheets of a er.


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Table ; On- and Off-Case rguments

;ff*Case ;n*CaseE+a, les #o icality

Disads&tatus Kuo solves

o i, act o solvency

;ffense or defense ;ffense 1- Defense e+ce t forturns

Where to flo2 e+t to theadvantages theyrefute 7one sheet of

a er eradvantage9

e2 sheet of a erfor each off*caseargu,ent

1 C road ,a Announce thenu,ber of off*caseargu,ents

Announce theorder in 2hich you2ill refute theadvantages


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2.& Extendin% /r%umentsou no2 should have a retty good idea of 2hat goes

on in the 1AC and the 1 C. 8o2ever/ those are only the firstt2o of eight s eeches. #he other si+ s eeches are aboutrefuting the other tea, s argu,ents and e+tending your o2n.E+tending an argu,ent does not ,ean Just re eating orrestating it. Assu,ing the other tea, refuted your argu,ent inso,e 2ay/ re eating it does not hel you 2in. /xtending anargu,ent ,eans effectively refuting everything the other tea,said in res onse. When you e+tend an argu,ent/ you 5ee it inthe debate so the Judge can consider it 2hen he or she ic5s the2inning tea,.

When you are neg/ you can and should e+tend both on*and off*case argu,ents. E+tending an off*case argu,entso,eti,es/ but not al2ays/ starts 2ith an overvie2. Anoverview is a short e+ lanation of your argu,ent before youget into refutation. It can be hel ful to have a cou le ofsentences to re,ind the Judge 2hat you are tal5ing about/highlight an i, ortant oint/ or clarify so,ething confusing.8o2ever/ the overvie2 should not be ,ore than a cou le ofsentences or else you are 2asting your ti,e.

After the overvie2/ you should go on to refute each oint the other tea, ,ade on that sheet of a er. Bse R#heysayS to reference the argu,ent and then res ond. ou shouldal,ost al2ays use the sa,e order they used. #his ty e ofrefutation is called line-b$-line because you refute each line ofargu,ent they ,a5e/ one by one. Effective line*by*line refutation can dra,atically increase the nu,ber of debates you2in.

If you understand your advantage/ disad/ or to icalityviolation 2ell/ refuting their argu,ents shouldn t be toodifficult. When they say non*uniKue/ you rove your disad is

uniKue. When they say no lin5/ you rove your disad doeslin5. #he sa,e is true 2hen you are aff and you are e+tendingan advantage. &o,eti,es you can rely on the cards youalready read and so,eti,es you ,ay need to read ,ore.

E+tending an on*case argu,ent is si,ilar. &tart bysu,,ariLing your argu,ent very briefly. #his allo2s the

Judge to find it on his or her flo2 and re,e,ber 2hat yourargu,ent is. #he best 2ay to do this is to sign ost 2ith theargu,ent nu,ber and the argu,ent na,e. #hen refuteanything they said in res onse. ou should use R #hey say S toreference the other tea, s argu,ents.

E+tending an ;n*Case Argu,ent:

RE+tend our first argu,ent that the lan doesn t solve.Even if eo le have health care/ they still 2on t havefood or shelter. #hey say health care is ,ore i, ortant/

but you 2ill die 2ithout food or shelter.SRE+tend nu,ber three U status Kuo solves. #here isalready @edicaid to rovide health insurance for eo lein overty. #hey say it s not enough/ but it covers the

eo le ,ost in overty 2ho are ,ost in need.S

#he aff e+tends their advantages Just li5e the nege+tends their disads. When you re aff/ it s also a good idea to

use line*by*line refutation. #he aff e+tends their res onses tothe disads and to icality violations Just li5e the neg e+tends on*case argu,ents.

#o 2in an advantage/ disad/ or to icality violation/ you,ust e+tend it in every s eech.


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e+ce tion is the neg bloc5. 3ecause it is considered one bigs eech/ there is no need to e+tend an argu,ent in both the ( Cand the 1 $. It s strategic to s lit t%e bloc, by e+tendingso,e argu,ents in the ( C and others in the 1 $.

udges in olicy debate are su osed to be unbiased.#hey are su osed to decide based on the argu,ents debaters,a5e/ not based on ho2 they feel. If one debater ,a5es anargu,ent 2ith a 2arrant and the other tea, doesn t res ond/

Judges generally treat the argu,ent as true. 11 ailing tores ond to the other tea, s argu,ent is called dro ing it.Dro ing an argu,ent in debate is sort of li5e fu,bling the

ball in football. It s not good. When you e+tend an argu,ent/you should try not to dro any of their res onses. ;ther2ise/ it,ight ta5e out your 2hole advantage or disad.

Constructive s eeches in olicy debate are eight

,inutes long but rebuttals are only five. It s i, ossible toeffectively e+tend every single argu,ent in your last rebuttal.As a result/ it s i, ortant to ic5 and choose. In the ( $/ youshould ic5 the disad or to icality violation that you thin5gives you the best chance of 2inning. If you try to e+tend,ore than one/ you 2ill robably e+tend neither effectively.$e,e,ber/ you also need ti,e to e+tend on*case argu,ents.ou should also ic5 the best fe2 argu,ents against eachadvantage. 4ic,ing vs9 Dro ing rgumentsDro ing >ic5ing

What it ,eans orgetting tores ond to anargu,ent

Deciding not toe+tend an argu,ent

;n ur ose or byaccident

3y accident ;n ur ose

When to do it ever Any ti,e duringthe debate so youcan focus on youri, ortantargu,ents

8o2 to do it #ry not to do it If there are no turnson an off*caseargu,ent/ Justannounce duringyour s eech thatyou are 5ic5ing outof i t1(

1( If there are turns/ 5ic5ing out of an argu,ent is ,oreco, licated. ou have to e+tend one of the other tea, sdefensive argu,ents to ta5e out the turn. ou 2ill learn aboutthis later.


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Good or bad 3ad Bsually good because it allo2syou to focus oni, ortantargu,ents

8o2 it affects the Judge s decision

If the dro edargu,ent is2arranted/ the

Judge gives it1--F robability

If there are noturns/ the argu,ent

Just goes a2ay andhas no effect on thedecision

uestions for ection #"(1. Assu,e you read the s ending disad. Write do2n 2hat

you 2ould say to e+tend it in the neg bloc5 if the aff,ade these argu,ents:

a. on*uniKue U the federal govern,ent iss ending lots of ,oney no2

b. o lin5 U the lan only s ends a little because itonly a lies to eo le in overty

c. o i, act U econo,ic decline doesn t cause2ar other2ise 2e 2ould have a 2ar right no2.

(. Assu,e you read the sa,e disad but no2 you 2ant to5ic5 out of it. Write do2n 2hat you 2ould say to 5ic5out of it.

. Assu,e you read a s ending disad and the aff ,ade thesa,e argu,ents as in Kuestion 1. ou also read a

olitical ca ital disad and the aff only res onded bysaying/ R4olitical ca ital is totally/ li5e/ not i, ortant.SWhich one should you 5ic5 out of?

. Assu,e you are debating a lan that rovides school brea5fast. ou ,ade an on*case argu,ent that 5ids2on t eat the brea5fast because it s not cool. #he affsays they ll eat it because it s tasty. Write do2n 2hatyou 2ould say to e+tend this argu,ent.

". o2 you don t 2ant to e+tend this on*case argu,ent.What 2ould you do?


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&o,e


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uestions for ection $"11. Write 2hat the aff and neg are trying to rove for each

of the follo2ing


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Civil Disobedience According to $a2ls 1" :

4ublic on*violentConscientious

3reach of la2Ai, of bringing about change

#he hrase Rin a de,ocracyS is also i, ortant.De,ocracy can be defined as Rgovern,ent by the eo leS or asR olitical and social eKuality.S 10 ou re not debating aboutcivil disobedience in aLi Ger,any. #hat 2ould be ,uch tooeasy for the aff. ou can even argue that $osa 4ar5s 2as notin a de,ocracy because she 2asn t eKual.

inally/ the hrase R,orally JustifiedS is i, ortant

because that tells you 2hat the aff and neg have to rove. #heaff has to rove that civil disobedience is ,orally Justified andthe neg has to rove it isn t.

Civil Disobedience in 3rief:Civil disobedience ,eans disobeying a la2 because you

believe it is i,,oral.or instance/ 2hen $osa 4ar5s refused to give u herseat/ she 2as engaging in civil disobedience.When har,acists refuse to give out birth control

because it is against their religion/ they are alsoengaging in civil disobedience.

1" $a2ls/ ohn 71)'19/ A #heory of ustice. Ca,bridge:8arvard Bniversity 4ress.10 $ando, 8ouse Dictionary 7(--)9.htt :OOdictionary.reference.co,Obro2seOde,ocracy

ou ve already learned about so,e flo2ingabbreviations that 2ill be useful in


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oo. &he ,a5es a sign that says/ RIt s your dutyto get rid of doodie!S and carries it to the ar5/singing/ RWe shall overco,e.S

d.


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Co,,on =alue 4re,ises in


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uestions for ection $"$1. What ,a5es a good =4?(. What ,a5es a good =C?. &u ose you are debating R$esolved: An adolescent s

right to rivacy ought to be valued above a arent sconflicting right to 5no2.S

a. What is a good =4 and =C for the aff? b. What is a good =4 and =C for the neg?

3.4 Social Contract Theor( o2 that you understand the basics of


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on drugs/ that s utting your o2n desire to use drugs over 2hatthe ,aJority of eo le 2ant.

3oth 8obbes and $ousseau s social contract theoriescan be used to argue against civil disobedience. 8o2ever/ youcan actually use ohn


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3. The /!!irmati e Constructi e#he first s eech in an


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&a, le #heses:

Aff: #he death enalty is i,,oral because itunder,ines Justice by treating eo le uneKually.

eg: #he death enalty is ,oral because it increasessocietal 2elfare by ,ini,iLing cri,e.

inally/ you should read one or ,ore contentions .$e,e,ber/ aff contentions are s ecific reasons the resolutionis true or good. In


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After reading one or ,ore 2arrants to su ort yourclai,/ you should i, act your contention. $e,e,ber/ thei, act is 2hy your contention is i, ortant. In


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3." The e%ati e Constructi e#he second s eech in an


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$efuting Chec5list:

=alue re,ise U relationshi to resolution=alue criterion U relationshi to valueContention 1 U 2arrants and i, actsContention ( U 2arrants and i, actsAny additional contentions

irst/ you should attac5 their value re,ise andcriterion. our goal is to rove your value is a better 2ay toevaluate the resolution than theirs. 3ecause values tend to bevague/ nice*sounding conce ts li5e Justice or societal 2elfare/it s nearly i, ossible to rove they re bad. Instead/ focus on

roving that a value re,ise doesn t fit 2ell 2ith theresolution. If a =4 doesn t relate very 2ell to the resolution/

it s not a good 2ay for the Judge to decide the debate. As youlearned at the very beginning of debate class/ the 2hole ointof debate is to debate about the resolution. (1

or instance/ su ose you re debating R$esolved: #hedeath enalty is i,,oral.S If their =4 is autono,y 7individualfreedo,9 you ,ight argue that s different than ,orality. oucould even say that the 2hole oint of ,orality is that eo lecan t Just be free to do 2hatever they 2ant. #his is an effective=4 attac5.

ou should also try to attac5 the relationshi bet2een

the aff s =4 and =C. or instance/ if their =4 is autono,y andtheir =C is non*violence/ you could easily rove that they areunrelated. ot being violent ,ight increase autono,y but it,ight also decrease it by reventing things li5e self*defense.Even if the =C is related to the =4/ you can try to rove it isnot necessary or sufficient to achieve the =4. Bsing the sa,e

(1 4olicy is a little different/ of course/ because you re debatingthe lan/ 2hich is an e+a, le of the resolution.

e+a, le/ even if non*violence hel s increase autono,y/ it s robably not enough. 4eo le could still control each other innon*violent 2ays li5e blac5,ail. #his ,eans the =C is notsufficient to achieve the =4. ou could also try to rove the=C is not necessary to achieve the =4 by sho2ing ho2 there

are other 2ays to have autono,y that don t involve non*violence. ((

ou can also attac5 the =C ,ore directly. $e,e,ber/a =C should be s ecific and ,easurable enough to be usefulfor the Judge. ou can attac5 the aff s =C by arguing that it stoo vague or too hard to ,easure. ou can also argue that it scircular 2ith the =4. In other 2ords/ if the =4 and the =C are

basically the sa,e thing/ the =C is not very useful.

Ways to $efute the =4O=C:

4rove the =4 isn t related to the resolution4rove the =C isn t related to the =44rove the =C isn t necessary to achieve the =44rove the =C isn t sufficient to achieve the =44rove the =C is not concrete or ,easurable4rove the =4 and =C are circular.

&o,eti,es/ you ,ight find it strategic not to attac5 the=4. Instead/ you ,ight choose to acce t it. When you acce t

the other tea, s =4/ you re 2illingly telling the Judge that heor she should use that =4 to decide the debate. #his can be agood 2ay to save ti,e if you thin5 you can 2in Just as easily2ith the other tea, s =4. In order to acce t the other tea, s=4 effectively/ you ,ust e+ lain ho2 your =C relates to their

(( Bnderstanding the difference bet2een necessary andsufficient is also a great 2ay to refute contentions in all ty esof debate.


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=4. #his is ho2 you sho2 the Judge that your =C andcontentions are still relevant. It s also ossible to acce t theother tea, s =C but it s ,uch less co,,on since value criteriaare usually chosen to favor one side of the resolution.

After refuting the =4O=C/ you should go on to attac5

the contentions. ou refute contentions in


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learned to do for the C. ou have less ti,e to do this thanthe C did/ though. #he C 2as ' ,inutes but the 1A$ isonly ,inutes. ou have to ,a5e sure your argu,ents areconcise. Acce ting the other tea, s =4 can often be strategicin the 1A$ since it saves ti,e.

ou should use the second half of the 1A$ to e+tendthe argu,ents you ,ade in your AC. $e,e,ber to sign ost2hen you s2itch to this art of the 1A$. ou can sayso,ething li5e/ R o2 let s e+a,ine the affir,ative caseS or/R o2/ onto the affir,ative case.S ou should res ond to theargu,ents that the neg ,ade in order/ Just li5e line*by*line in

olicy debate. It s a good idea to oint out any art of yourcase they dro ed. ust li5e in olicy debate/ if the other tea,dro s an argu,ent/ it ,eans the Judge has to give it a lot of2eight. When argu,ents aren t dro ed/ you should ans2er

2hat the other tea, said. ou can try to rove the, 2rong or oint out that their argu,ent isn t relevant.Any argu,ents dro ed by the C 2ill hel you 2in

the debate. Bnfortunately/ this also ,eans that any argu,entsyou dro in the 1A$ 2ill hel the neg 2in the debate.Covering all the argu,ents in ,inutes is hard and ta5es

ractice. ou can t afford to ra,ble and you have to chooseyour best argu,ents.

#he ne+t rebuttal s eech is the $. When you are neg/the $ is your last chance to s ea5. ou have 0 ,inutes but

you have to ,a5e the, count. ust li5e in the C and the1A$/ in the $ you have to s lit your ti,e bet2een the aff andneg cases. It s often a good idea to start 2ith the aff case. ourefuted their =4O=C and contentions in the C and theyres onded in the 1A$. ou no2 have to res ond to theirres onses. ou 2ant to rove that your original res onses holdu . ou cannot ,a5e ne2 argu,ents against their contentions.$e,e,ber/ rebuttals are not for brand ne2 argu,ents. ou

already had a chance to refute their contentions. In the $/you have to ,a5e due 2ith 2hat you already have. ou canonly get a2ay 2ith ne2 argu,ents if they re res onses toso,ething the other tea, said in the first ti,e in the reviouss eech.

After you refute the aff case/ you should rebuild youro2n case. ou do this Just li5e the 1A$ did 2ith their case.When it co,es to both refuting and rebuilding/ you should besure that the Judge understands your argu,ents and that theycan stand u to the (A$. #his is your last chance to s ea52hile the aff gets one ,ore chance. A good (A$ 2ill e+ loitany 2ea5nesses in the $. #he best $ 2ill antici ate 2hatthe (A$ is li5ely to say and ,a5e sure their argu,ent 2ill stillstand against it. #his is called reem ting the other tea, sargu,ents.

inally/ the $ should give the Judge voting issues. In


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Chapter %: ClashIn this cha ter you 2ill learn ho2 to clash 2ith the

other tea, ,ore effectively. As you read in Cha ter 1/ clash isthe ,ost i, ortant art of a debate. Without clash/ it 2ouldn teven be a debate. #he tea, that can clash ,ore effectivelyoften 2ins even if their argu,ents are not as good.


1. Why is it i, ortant to clash 2ith the other tea, sargu,ents?

(. 8o2 can I refute ,ore effectively?. 8o2 can I rebuild ,y o2n argu,ents?. 8o2 can I rove ,y argu,ents are better than the other

tea, s argu,ents?

4.1 Cross-ExaminationCross*e+a,ination is the ,ost obvious e+a, le of

clash in a debate because it is the only ti,e 2hen debatersdirectly interact 2ith each other. At all other ti,es/ there isonly one erson s ea5ing. In cross*e+a,ination there are t2o.#he only 2ay you can avoid clash during cross*e+a,ination is

by stic5ing your fingers in your ear and hu,,ing.ou have no2 learned about 2hat to do during

constructive and rebuttal s eeches in a lot of detail. ou are robably 2ondering 2hat to do during cross*e+a,ination/2hich is also art of the debate round. Cross*e+a,ination/abbreviated as CT or cross*+/ is not Kuite as i, ortant as thes eeches. #hat s 2hy you haven t learned ,uch about it yet.8o2ever/ as you get better at debate cross*+ beco,es ,ore and,ore i, ortant. Although the Judge 2on t vote on cross*+

alone/ it can be a o2erful 2ay to set u argu,ents to ,a5e inyour s eech. If you are good at cross*+ you can also see,,uch ,ore ersuasive and credible than your o onent/ 2hich2ill hel the Judge evaluate the debate in your favor.

In the first cha ter/ you briefly learned that cross*+ can

be used to clarify or e+ ose fla2s in the other tea, sargu,ents and set u your o2n argu,ents. #hese are the three

basic ur oses of cross*+. #here are ,ore advanced ur osestoo but you should learn these first.

Bnderstanding and clarifying argu,ents is your first riority. If you don t understand 2hat they said or they ,ean/you can t refute it effectively. While you re flo2ing/ it s agood idea to circle any argu,ents you don t understand. oushould also ,a5e a circle 2hen you ,iss an argu,ent. #hat san easy re,inder to as5 about the argu,ents in cross*+.

ou should only as5 this 5ind of Kuestion 2hennecessary. If you understand enough to refute/ don t 2asteyour cross*+ ti,e. ;ther2ise/ you re Just giving the other tea,,ore ti,e to e+ lain their case to the Judge. When you doneed to understand/ you should try to hrase your Kuestion ass ecifically as ossible. #hat revents the other tea, fro,ra,bling. or instance/ su ose you are debating the overtyto ic and the aff reads a disease advantage. ou don tunderstand ho2 the lan solves disease. Don t as5/ RCan youe+ lain the disease advantage?S #his is an invitation to

ra,ble. As5/ R8o2 does the lan solve disease?S#he second ur ose of cross*+ is e+ osing fla2s in theother tea, s argu,ents. ;ften/ advantages/ disads/ orcontentions 2ill be ,issing ste s in the chain of logic. #hey,ight be ,issing 2arrants or evidence to rove a oint or their2arrants ,ight be 2ea5. ou can use cross*+ to e+ ose thesefla2s. or instance/ you ,ight as5/ RDo you have anyevidence to su ort your clai, that the lan solves disease?S


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other tea, by saying/ R#han5 youS or Just as5ing your ne+tKuestion.

When ans2ering Kuestions/ you should also be oliteand reasonable. Don t raise your voice or try to 5ee tal5ing ifthey cut you off. #he ,ore you 5no2 about your o2n case/ the

,ore effective you 2ill be at cross*+. Also/ re,e,ber thathonesty is the best olicy. Don t lie about your evidenceKuality or you 2ill be e,barrassed. If they as5 a Kuestion andyou don t 5no2 the ans2er/ it s acce table to consult yourevidence or/ if necessary/ say/ RI don t 5no2.S o one e+ ectsyou to ans2er/ RWhat 2as the o ulation of @alaysia in 1))(.S#he ,ore you 5no2 about and thin5 about your argu,ents/ the

better your ans2ers 2ill be.

uestions for ection %"11. #he other tea, reads an advantage about education and

you don t understand 2hat the i, act is. 8o2 2ouldyou as5 a clarifying Kuestion?

(. #he other tea, reads an i, ortant card about ho2 overty is 2orse than 2ar. It s their only i, act cardfor that advantage. #he Kualification is: 3ob #.3obson/ 4hD in bird calling/ 1))-/

overtysu+++.blogs ot.co,a. Is it 2orth attac5ing?

b. What are t2o Kuestions you could as5 about thiscard?

c. What 2ould you say in your s eech?. What should you do if the erson you are cross*

e+a,ining 5ee s ra,bling?

4.2 Re!utin% Re isited ou already learned the basics of refuting in the first

cha ter. ou have robably noticed that refuting 5ee s co,ingu again and again in other cha ters. #hat s because refuting is2hat debate is all about. $efutation ha ens in every s eeche+ce t the first. If you can learn to refute better than anyoneelse/ you ll 2in a lot of debates.

#here are ,any different 2ays of refuting an argu,ent.;ften/ debaters 2ill atte, t to refute by si, ly offering acounter*clai,. or instance/ su ose the negative ,a5es theargu,ent/ R#he lan s ends a lot of ,oney/ 2hich hurts theecono,y because it ,a5es investors nervous.S #o refute thisargu,ent/ you could si, ly assert/ R& ending lots of ,oneydoesn t hurt the econo,y.S 8o2ever/ this argu,ent/ even ifdro ed/ 2ould not be effective defense against the negativecontention because their contention is 2arranted and yoursisn t. It s no better than saying/ R uh*uhhhhhh!S

A better 2ay to refute an argu,ent is to oint out a fla2in the negative s reasoning or evidence. In this e+a, le/ youcould say/ R#hey haven t roven that the lan s ends enough,oney to hurt the econo,y.S Bnless the other tea, has aserious fla2 in their reasoning/ this argu,ent is only slightly

better than an assertion because they can easily su ly any,issing reasoning. As a result/ this for, of refutation isusually only effective if the other tea, dro s/ or fails tores ond/ to your argu,ent. &o,eti,es this argu,ent 2ill beeffective because their reasoning is so fla2ed they can t fi+ it.ou 2ill learn about logical fallacies as one e+a, le.

Argu,ents about evidence Kuality also fall in thiscategory. In the revious section/ you learned ho2 to set the,u in cross*+. #he effectiveness of these argu,ents varies

based on ho2 bad their evidence really is. It also varies fro, Judge to Judge. Al,ost every Judge 2ill 5noc5 unKualified


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evidence do2n so it s no better than a debater s o2n reasoning.&o,e Judges 2ill ignore the argu,ent altogether and so,e 2illstill consider it in this 5noc5ed*do2n for,. #his doesn t ,eanyou shouldn t ,a5e these argu,ents/ it Just ,eans you shouldrecogniLe they aren t total defense. #hey ll slo2/ but not sto /

the other tea, s lay.A third 2ay to refute an argu,ent is to ,itigate it. #o,itigate an argu,ent ,eans to di,inish or reduce its severity.In other 2ords/ you are not dis uting that an argu,ent is true

but you are saying the robability or the i, act is less thanthey clai,ed. or instance/ you could argue s ending ,oney2on t lead all the 2ay to an econo,ic de ression. #his ty e ofargu,ent can so,eti,es be effective if you are clearly 2inningyour contentions. 8o2ever/ using the football analogy/ itdoesn t sto the other tea, fro, gaining yards/ it Just ,eans

they gain fe2er than they 2ould other2ise.#he ,ost o2erful defensive argu,ent is a ta5eout. Ata5eout/ unli5e a ,itigating argu,ent/ can get rid of the othertea, s 2hole contention if you 2in it. #o be effective/ ata5eout ,ust be 2arranted. or instance/ you could argue thats ending ,oney doesn t hurt the econo,y at all becauseinvestors e+ ect it. Bsing the football analogy/ this sto s their

lay entirely and they don t gain any yards.A ta5eout can otentially get rid of a 2hole contention/

but that doesn t ,ean you should sta5e the round on one

ta5eout. Bsing the sa,e e+a, le/ it s rare that you can 2inthat s ending ,oney doesn t hurt the econo,y at all . ou can robably 2in it doesn t under,ine it in any serious 2ay. 3utthat doesn t get rid of their 2hole contention/ it Just 5noc5s itdo2n enough that your offense can tru, theirs. 8aving acou le of ta5eouts on each advantage/ disad/ or contention isusually safer. Also/ you re safer 2hen you can rely on youro2n advantage/ disad/ or contention as offense.


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uestions for ection %"#1. #he other tea, reads the s ending DA. Give an

e+a, le of each of the follo2ing ty es of argu,entsyou could ,a5e to refute it:

a. A uniKueness counter*clai, b. A lin5 ,itigator c. An internal lin5 ta5eoutd. An i, act ta5eout

(. ou are debating


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argu,ent against you. or instance/ if they read a turn thats ending ,oney is good for the econo,y/ they can e+tend theargu,ents that s ending is lo2 no2/ the lan s ends ,oney/s ending ,oney is good for the econo,y/ and econo,icdecline causes 2ar. #his is a ne2 advantage for the aff. It is

li5e a co, lete lay in football.#o revent this fro, ha ening/ you have to 5ic5 out ofyour s ending DA by e+tending a defensive argu,ent that theaff ,ade that ta5es out their ne2 advantage. #his is li5e

bloc5ing their co, lete lay in football. or instance/ if theysaid econo,ic decline 2ouldn t cause 2ar/ you could 5ic5 outof your DA by e+tending that. ;ccasionally/ there 2ill be noargu,ents that you can e+tend to 5ic5 out of a turnedargu,ent. #his is called a straig%t turn . ou are stuc5defending the argu,ent that 2as straight turned.

8o2 to >ic5 ;ut of #urns:


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4.4 Extendin% !!ense and Re*uildin% #o 2in a debate/ you not only have to refute the other

tea, s argu,ents/ you also have to rebuild your o2n. In


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$e,e,ber/ to refute effectively you should ,a5eseveral different argu,ents. #he sa,e is true of rebuilding/es ecially 2hen it co,es to the negative bloc5. #he negative

bloc5 is 1 ,inutes long so you have lenty of ti,e to e+tend

and rebuild. In the bloc5/ your goal should be to ,a5e anaverage of res onses to each (AC argu,ent. 3ad (ACargu,ents need fe2er res onses and good (AC res onses/es ecially turns/ need ,ore. $ebuilding 2ith this ,uch de th,a5es the 1A$ s life e+tre,ely difficult.

&ign osting is essential to effective line*by*linerebuilding. As you ve learned/ you should begin by saying/R#hey sayXS and identifying the argu,ent you are ans2ering.#hen ,a5e your argu,ents/ nu,bering each ne2 one. #his2ay the Judge 2on t ,iss anything. our first argu,ent

should usually restate your original 2arrant and e+tend youroriginal evidence. After that you need to rebuild in one or,ore 2ays that you learned.

An E+a, le of $ebuilding:

#hey say s ending is good for the econo,y.1. & ending 5ills the econo,y by raising interest ratesso co, anies can t ,a5e critical invest,ents U that sour 1 C e2 or5 #i,es evidence.(. #heir evidence is biased U it s 2ritten by so,eone2ho 2or5s for ;ba,a so he has a olitical incentive toe+aggerate the benefits of s ending to su ort ;ba,a ssti,ulus ac5age.. & ending 5ills the econo,y by raising ta+es NcardQ. Irrelevant U their evidence is only about a te, oraryshort*ter, boost to the econo,y. ;ur i, act is aboutsustained econo,ic decline/ 2hich they ll cause in thelong run.

#hey say 7ne+t argu,ent the other tea, ,ade9

uestions for ection %"%1. Why is restating your original argu,ent not enough?(. Assu,e you read the s ending DA. Write out 2hat you

2ould say to rebuild against a (AC 2ith theseargu,ents:

a. #he econo,y is already crashing so it doesn t,atter if 2e decrease it

b. #he lan doesn t s end ,uch ,oney U it Justgives school brea5fast to students U that s notvery e+ ensive

c. Econo,ic decline sto s global 2ar,ing because2e 2on t be able to afford to use fossil fuels.

d. Global 2ar,ing causes e+tinction because itcauses the s read of drought and disease

. Why should you rebuild 2ith ,ulti le argu,ents?

4. ecessar( and Su!!icient ;ne of the ,ost o2erful 2ays of refuting or

rebuilding is ointing out a fla2 in the other tea, s logic. Afla2 in logic is called a logical fallac$ . or instance if I say/ RI

li5e bananas and chi, anLees li5e bananas/ therefore I a, achi, anLee/S I a, co,,itting a logical fallacy. I do li5e bananas and chi, anLees do li5e bananas/ but that doesn t,a5e ,e a chi, anLee.


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2hat you re loo5ing for/ you can find the, all over the lace/es ecially in the other tea, s argu,ents.

ou already learned 7briefly9 about the difference bet2een necessary and sufficient. ;ne co,,on logical fallacyoccurs 2hen eo le ,i+ these u . ;ne e+a, le of the

difference relates to driving a car. In Connecticut/ turning 10 isnecessary to get your license. ou can t get a license beforeyou re si+teen no ,atter ho2 ,uch you 2ant it or ho2 goodyou are at driving. 8o2ever/ turning 10 is not sufficient to getyour license. If you turn 10/ go ta5e your driving test/ andcrash into another car/ you robably 2on t get your license.ust being 10 is not enough. It 2ould be a logical fallacy tosay/ RI have to be 10 to get ,y license/ so 2hen I , 10 I ll get,y license.S #his ,i+es u necessary and sufficient.

ou can also co,,it a logical fallacy if you assu,e

sufficient i, lies necessary. or instance/ you ,ight really2ant a cool s orts car for your 10 th birthday. Assu,ing youhave your license and can ay for insurance and gas/ o2ning acool s orts car is sufficient to drive. If you have one/ you candefinitely drive. #hat doesn t ,ean it s necessary to drive.8aving a beat*u used ,inivan 2ould also allo2 you to drive.;nce again/ you are ,i+ing u necessary and sufficient.

&o,eti,es the t2o do go together. or instance/having a license/ a car/ and gas all together is both necessaryand sufficient to drive. #hey re necessary because you can t

drive 2ithout any one of those things. #hey re sufficient because if you have all three/ you can drive. 8o2ever/ youcan t Just assu,e that one i, lies the other. ou have tos ecifically rove it.

Table 1& +ecessar$ and "ufficient

ecessary &ufficient#urning 10 I& necessary todrive

#urning 10 I& ;# sufficientto drive

;2ning a s orts car I& ;#necessary to drive ;2ning a s orts car I&sufficient to driveEating food I& necessary tolive

Eating food I& ;#sufficient to live

Eating tasty food I& ;#necessary to live

Eating tasty food I& ;#sufficient to live

o2 that you understand the difference bet2eennecessary and sufficient/ you can start loo5ing for ti,es 2hen

eo le ,i+ the, u in their debate cases. o ,atter 2hat 5ind

of debate you do/ you should loo5 out for this logical fallacy.ou already learned about ho2 in


73/117

the lan. #he lin5 and internal lin5 rove the lan is sufficientto cause the i, act.

If you can rove that the lan is either unnecessary orinsufficient/ you can beat the advantage or DA. ;ften the othertea, fails to even rove these things in the first lace. 4eo le

often clai, their evidence says these things 2hen it reallydoesn t. #his gives you a great o ortunity in CT and in yours eech to oint out their logical fallacy.

or e+a, le/ eo le 2ill often read evidence that saysso,ething li5e/ RIf 2e do T/ / and [/ it 2ill solve this

roble,.S If their lan only does T/ they re not solving the roble,. #hat s li5e turning 10 but not assing your driver stest. Another thing to loo5 out for is evidence that says/R3ecause 2e re not doing T right no2/ there s a roble,.S#hat s great inherency evidence but it s not enough to be

solvency evidence. #hat evidence doesn t rove that doing T2ould actually solve the roble,. ;nce again/ that s li5esaying/ R3ecause I , not 10/ I can t drive.S #urning 10doesn t ,ean you ll ass your driver s test.

uestions for ection %"&1. ill in each blan5 2ith Rnecessary/S Rsufficient/S or

Rnecessary and sufficient.Sa. 3eing a co2 is PPPPPPPPPPPPP to be a

,a,,al. b. 3eing a ,a,,al is PPPPPPPPPPPPP to be aco2.

c. >no2ing ho2 to lay the dru,s is PPPPPPPPPPPPP to be a ,usician.

d. 3eing a ,usician is PPPPPPPPPPPPP to 5no2ho2 to lay the dru,s.

e. #a5ing years of English is PPPPPPPPPPPPP to

graduate fro, high school.f. @eeting all of AI#E s graduation reKuire,ents

is PPPPPPPPPPPPP to graduate fro, high school.g. Attending the Bniversity of Connecticut is

PPPPPPPPPPPPP to attend college.

h. Graduating fro, high school is PPPPPPPPPPPPPto attend the Bniversity of Connecticut.(. Assu,e you are debating a lan that rovides free

school brea5fast to students in overty. Identify2hether each argu,ent is a logical fallacy. If so/e+ lain 2hy.

a. 4roviding any food at school encourages obesity because it s not healthy food. #herefore/ the lan causes obesity.

b. #he lan increases acade,ic achieve,ent

because ,ore students 2ill eat brea5fast sothey ll be ,ore a2a5e and ready to learn.c. Every ti,e a olicy is assed through Congress/

it raises ta+es/ crashing the econo,y.d. 8aving a nutritious brea5fast/ lunch/ and dinner

is necessary to good health. #herefore/ the lan ro,otes good health.

. 8o2 is ointing out a logical fallacy different fro,other ty es of refutation?


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4." loc+sou ve no2 learned ,any different 2ays to refute an

argu,ent. ou should have a lot of ideas but it can so,eti,es be difficult to thin5 of good argu,ents on the fly. #he ,ore

you 5no2 about your to ic the easier this 2ill be. 8o2ever/ it2ill al2ays be easier to co,e u 2ith argu,ents 2hen youhave ti,e to thin5 about the,. As a result/ e+ erienceddebaters re are bloc,s in advance to res ond to argu,entsthat they antici ate the other tea, ,a5ing. A bloc5 is si, ly alist of argu,ents 2ritten out in advance.

In addition to hel ing you thin5 of argu,ents/ bloc5s,a5e your argu,ents better. ;ne 2ell*regarded debate Judgeused to say/ R$eaders beat tal5ers.S ;ne reason is that ,ost

eo le can read ,uch ,ore Kuic5ly and articulately than they

can say so,ething off the to of their head. Another reason isthat a bloc5 allo2s you to edit and revise your argu,ents sothey are clear/ efficient/ and ersuasive. #hin5 about 2riting asecond or third draft for a a er. It s al2ays better than yourfirst draft.

clash-+guide+to+effective+debating

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