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What In The World Is Debate? Debate is simply taking a position (an attitude or thesis) and arguing that you are right. This is the most important concept to remember. If you're right then you're right. All the rules and strategies will help you argue better, but basically the person who argues the best will win.
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What Is the Resolution? The resolution is simply what you are going to argue about. For example, this year's resolution is Resolved: That the federal government should establish a policy to substantially increase renewable energy use in the United States. The affirmative will argue that we should change the way we deal with the teenagers who commit crime, and the negative will argue that we shouldn't change current policy, the status quo. You will debate both the affirmative and negative sides within a debate tournament.
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What Is A Debate Tournament? A debate tournament is a debate contest. Generally, you will debate between three and five rounds each tournament. Each round will last about 11/2 hours. So in one tournament you will spend between 41/2 to 71/2 hours actually debating. (And you thought football was hard.)
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What Is Advancing To the Final Rounds? In a normal tournament, every team will debate between three to five rounds. From these first preliminary rounds, the teams with the best records (usually 4 teams) will advance to the final rounds were they will debate another round. The winners in the final rounds will debate until they are defeated; the last two teams remaining will debate in the final round; the winner in this final round will win first place and the looser will win second. If eight teams advance, then there will be three additional rounds - quarter finals, semi-finals, and finals.
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How Is Your Record Determined? Your record during a debate tournament will be determined by 1) how many rounds you win or loose, 2) the number of speaker points earned, and finally by 3) speaker rank. Generally, you will need to win at least two out of three rounds and earn high speaker points to advance to the semi-final round. In some cases, you may win all of your rounds and still not advance. Speaker points are second in importance only to winning and loosing. Getting high speaker ranks is nice but only occasionally helps you to advance.
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How Do I Know Which Side I Will Debate? After you arrive at a tournament, you will first need to know your number (i.e. 21A) - your coach will give you this number. Next, you will need to look for a sheet of paper on the wall that is called the pairing. The pairing will have your number, which side you will debate, who you will debate, when the round will start, which room you will debate in, and who will be your judge. There will be one pairing per round and generally only one round will be posted at a time. In most tournaments, you will debate the affirmative and negative at least one time during the tournament.
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What Is A Practice Tournament? A practice tournament is a scrimmage were you go to practice or learn how to debate against teams from all over East Texas from all different size schools. All U.I.L. rules will be followed and you are expected to debate to the best of your ability, but the judges are aware that you are just learning and haven't figured everything out yet. If you are a beginner, then generally about half of the debaters in a practice tournament will know less than you and about half will know more than you - so you won't be the weakest debater there.
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What Is District? The District tournament, generally held the first week in February, is the first contest that truly counts. At District you will be debating teams from Alto, Beckville, Joaquin, Garrison, Timpson, Woden, Central Heights, and Shelbyville. In the past, these schools have had less experience than Shelbyville debaters, but they have been getting better every year. The top two teams from District will advance to the State Tournament in Austin that is held in March.
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Section Vocabulary Debate and Topical Terms Used in This Section.
Advance (Break): After the preliminary rounds are finished, the teams with the best win/loss records will advance to the final rounds. Depending on the size of the tournament, either 16, 8, or 4 teams will advance. In order for a team to earn a medal or place in a tournament, they must advance to the final rounds.
Affirmative: The affirmative team supports the resolution - they try to prove that the resolution is valid or true. For example, this year's resolution asks the affirmative to implement a national program that will help reduce the juvenile crime rate.
Final Round: The last two teams competing in a tournament will debate each other for first and second place - this is known as the final round. The winner of this round will earn first place - the losers, second place. Both teams who lost in the semi-final round will usually be awarded third place.
Final Rounds: Following the preliminary rounds, the debaters with the best win/loss records will be paired in a single elimination bracket - a loss of a round results in the elimination of the team from the tournament. Final rounds are composed of 16 teams (octal-finals), 8 teams (quarter-finals), or 4 teams (semi-finals). The number of teams who advance to the final rounds is determined by the size of the tournament - e.g. a tournament with sixty teams competing will usually have octal-finals while a tournament with only twelve teams will usually break to semi-finals.
Negative: The negative team tries to prove that the resolution is invalid or not true. The negative attempts to illustrate that the problem is as serious as the affirmative claims. They also attempt to demonstrate that the affirmative's plan will not work and could result in harmful side effects.
Power Matched: In a power matched rounds, the teams with the best win/loss records (e.g. 2 wins: 0 losses) will debate teams with similar records, and the teams poorest win/loss records (e.g. 0 wins: 2 losses) will debate teams with similar records. The purpose of a Power Matched round is to ensure that the best teams advance to the final rounds by reducing the number of debate teams with perfect win/loss records.
Power Protected: In a power protected round, the teams with the best win/loss records (e.g. 2 wins: 0 losses) will debate the teams with the poorest win/loss records (e.g. 0 wins: 2 losses). The teams in the middle (e.g. 1 win: 1 loss) will debate each other. Power protected rounds are used when there are only a few teams with no losses and several teams with divided records. The purpose is to try to advance only the best teams to the final rounds.
Preliminary Round: All debaters participating in a tournament will debate a specified number of rounds (3-5) regardless of how frequently they win - these rounds are known as preliminary rounds. The first and second rounds are usually randomly matched - later rounds may be power matched or power protected depending on the results of the initial rounds.
Number: In an attempt to eliminate bias, judges are not informed of a debater's school. Code numbers, therefore, are assigned to each team for identification purposes. When arriving at a debate tournament, each team is expected to learn their team number and use this number to identify themselves. A team number will usually be composed of the school's identifying number and a letter, e.g. 23B. It is customary for the best or most experienced team from a school to be identified with the letter "A," the second most experienced team with the letter "B," etc.
Round: Within a round each team will debate the resolution once - either the affirmative or negative. Within a single tournament, there are three to five preliminary rounds.
Pairings: For each preliminary round, a list will be generated illustrating (1) the time the round is to begin, (2) which side a team will debate, (3) their opponent, (4) the room where the debate will take place, and (5) the judge's name. It is the responsibility of each debater to locate this list and to be in the correct room at appropriate time. It is customary to wait for fifteen minutes after the start time before disqualifying an absent team.
Speaker Points: During the preliminary rounds, the judge will evaluate each debater's ability to analyze, organize, and deliver the issues discussed within the round. A specified number of speaker points will be awarded based on this evaluation - in Texas U.I.L. a speaker may earn up to 25 points. When teams have similar win/loss records, ties are broken using each team's sum of speaker points.
Speaker Ranks: During the preliminary rounds, the judge will evaluate each debater's ability to analyze, organize, and deliver the issues discussed within the round. Based on these standards the rank all four debaters in the round - the best debater will be placed 1st; the second best 2nd, etc. When teams are tied in both win/loss records and total number of speaker points, each team's speaker ranks will be added together and the team with the lowest sum rank will be awarded the higher position.
Status Quo: Status Quo is a Latin term the policy and programs that the government administration currently follows - what is currently the law, policy, program, and situation. The affirmative is responsible for demonstrating that the status quo needs to be changed. The negative attempts to demonstrate that status quo policy is the best that can be expected.
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