Lincoln Douglas

Lincoln Douglas Topic Analysis Nov/Dec – Jury Nullification – Champion Briefs
Video courtesy of Champion Briefs, website at Championbriefs.com. Bio and Video Transcription 2015 November/December LD Topic Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, jury nullification ought to be used in the face of perceived injustice. Bio Adam Tomasi debated for five years at Sacred Heart (MA) in Lincoln-Douglas. He was

Debate Clash Research Engine Up and Running
Debate Clash Research Engine Finally a research engine created by debaters for debaters. The Debate Clash Research Engine was designed to help students find legitimate and useful evidence. Why use the Debate Clash Research Engine? The engine runs exclusively off of Google’s powerful search engine The engine will only display results that

Impact Calc In 5 Minutes
Nearly every judge bases their decisions off of the impacts that were presented in the round. In this video we’ll go over what an impact is, move onto the purpose of impact calc, and finally address the key elements to this great tool. I’m Nikko and this is Debate Clash.

Debate and Individual Event Times
Public Forum Debate Times 4 minutes – 1AC – First Affirmative Constructive 4 minutes – 1NC – First Negative Constructive 3 minutes – CX – First Cross Examination or Cross Fire 4 minutes – 2AC – Second Affirmative Constructive 4 minutes – 2NC – Second Negative Constructive 3 minutes –

15 Tips for Winning with a Lay Judge
The number one rule in debate is adapting to your judge. You could be the quickest, most organized, and technical debater in the round, but if the judge doesn’t like your style you will lose. Lay judge is simply another way of saying that someone is inexperienced. Most of the

The Technical Debate Dictionary
The Technical Debate Dictionary Abuse (Abusive Arguments): Arguments that make the debate round unfair. For example if the affirmative team made the argument that they should be able to run 3 plans the negative could argue that that is abusive because it inherently gives an unfair advantage to the affirmative. Advantage (AD): A

Top 10 Debate Research Tips
Prior to research There are a couple of things you should do before starting your debate research. The single most important principle is to completely understand the topic. Contrary to popular belief one of the best places to start is Wikipedia. They provide a fantastic semi-comprehensive overview of nearly every topic. As

LD – How to Judge Lincoln Douglas Debate (Video)
Coach Sidwell is back again to go over how to judge Lincoln Douglas debate rounds in specific. She goes over some of the lingo you will hear, what the format of the debate is, what the students should be doing and more.

How to Flow in Debate
Flowing is simply an organized way of taking notes. The process has a fairly steep learning curve and may feel strange at first, but with nearly every top debater flowing in a similar fashion, it is definitely a skill worth fostering. Once you get the hang of it, you will

How to Judge a Debate (Video)
Here are some excellent instructions from Cindy Sidwell on how to judge a debate round. This video covers what to expect when walking into that first debate round, how to fill out your ballot, and so much more. As coach Sidwell puts it, “Our debaters can’t compete without wonderful people