General Definition: The topic or subject offered to debate. Motions are written as statements that create clear affirmative and negative ground, or positions. See also “Resolution“. Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.
General Definition: The side opposing the resolution in a debate. Public Forum: Commonly used, also known as the “Con“. World Schools Debate: Negative is not a common phrase in WSD, where “Opposition” is used instead British Parliamentary: Negative is not a common phrase in BP, where “Opposition” is used instead …
General Definition: Any action, attitude, or behavior that is used to relay a message to an audience, including gestures, facial expressions, voice quality, eye contact, posture, and other body language. Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: …
General Definition: Arguments reversing or “stealing” the impact of an opponent’s argument, showing how an argument actually benefits the other team. Also known as a “Turn“, offense is often framed as reasons the judge should vote for your team. Offensive arguments are generally stronger and more strategic than “Defensive Arguments”, …
General Definition: The side opposing the motion in a debate Public Forum: Opposition is not a common phrase in PF, where “Con” or “Negative” are used instead. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.
General Definition: The second speaker for the closing opposition in a British Parliamentary (BP) debate. OW is a five-minute speech. Public Forum: not used in PF. World Schools Debate: not used in WSD. British Parliamentary:see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: not used in CNDF.
General Definition: A strategic argument delivered at the top of a speech that frames the debate in terms of certain points of clash or impacts. May also refer to evidence overviews that explain what an author means or where it fits into a certain argument. See also “Underview“. Public Forum: …
General Definition: A judge’s educational philosophy; a perspective that guides a judge’s decision. All judges have assumptions about the relative importance of substance, style, technical argumentation, and even format, and while judges are instructed not to allow their personal bias to influence their decision, debaters should do their best to …
General Definition: Appeals to emotion; rheoric designed to persuade an audience with emotionally impactful stories or examples. Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.
General Definition: A point of clarification is offered if the speaker has said something that the opponent missed or did not understand. See also “Points of Information“. Public Forum: Not used in PF, where “Crossfire” and “Grand Crossfire” are used for asking questions instead. World Schools Debate: see general definition. …
General Definition: A point of information is a question or statement posed to a speaker during the unprotected time of their speech. Questions offered should be limited to 15 seconds in length and should not be offered more than once every 20 seconds during an opponent’s speech time. See also …
General Definition: Going down the flow in order and addressing each argument one-by-one, or “point-by-point”. See also “Line-By-Line“. Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where “Line-By-Line” is used instead. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.