DEBATE BASICS

G. A. Dulon Jr.

 WHAT DEBATE IS AND ISNT

ALL ABOUT
ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF
A SPEECH
DEBATE PROPER

DEBATE ISNT
ABOUT USING
CONVOLUTED
ENGLISH TERMS

But sometimes,
some words are
more fitting and
persuasive than
other terms.

not mutually exclusive

present on one side

>

this entity is only

vis-avis

detrimental

>

paramount
important
bad, harmful, damaging

trade off > thing you need to

sacrifice, cost

>

Debate isnt all

about shouting and
letting out all of
your emotions

One should be
calm, persuasive
but not angry, and
perfectly clear
about something.

Debate isnt all

about entirely
negating
everything that
your opponent is

Debate is a
strategy game.
Know when to
concede, when to
rebut, and when to

Debate isnt all

about saying
Mr. Chair

Refrain from
developing any
verbal crutches or
fillers.

Debate is NOT
an essay writing
contest

This depends on
your style, but
personally, it would
be better to just
construct an

Debate isnt a
competition of
prepared speeches

Rebuttals and
direct-responsetype arguments are
very essential.

Matter isnt all

about listing laws,
provisions, articles,
sections, etc in
your Constitution

The best evidences

or matter are those
that can be
observed in real

There is a difference
between how an
argument/idea plays in
your head and how you
actually said/delivered

P
M
DP

LO
DLO

M
WHIP

WHIP

REPLY

REPLY

MANNER, MATTER,
METHOD?
This is an obsolete standard
Debaters started realizing that its ironic
that DEBATE is an event that celebrates
choice, style, etc yet, they impose
standards on which manner, method, flow,
style, etc. should be followed.
We now evaluate debaters holistically.

POI, should you take one?

POIs are quick points launched by the
OPPOSING side. It might be a review of an
argument, a short response, or a clarification.
Before, POIs were not mandated. Some
adjudicators penalized debaters for not taking
POIs on crucial rounds, some did not.
Some penalized more, while some imposed minor
deductions.
Now, POIs are MANDATED.

Can you automatically win or

lose a round?

NO
Bad definition, poor policy, unclear stance,
failing to consume 7 minutes, overtime,
negative case, no characterization, wrong
context, etc.

Under time, should you be

penalized?
Highly discretionary upon the adjudicator.
Some punish debaters heavily, some do not.
BUT, the time you consumed will obviously speak
something about the quality of your speech.
Nonetheless, repeating all of your points just to
consume the whole 7 minutes is equally
detrimental to your score.

When should you launch a

DEFCHA?
When the definition is highly unfair, wrong,
tautological, a time-place-set, a squirrel, or just
plainly stupid and wrong.
Only launch a definition challenge if and only if
there is no room for debate. Launching one will
surely make the debate messy, as ideally, if no one
concedes with the defn, its as if you would be
having 2 simultaneous debates in a single round
Best strategy is to either a)point out a

What is a negative case?

A fatal mistake made by opposition when all that
they do is negate the previous speaker. Rebuttals
are essential, but a speech composed ONLY of
rebuttals and very few positive material is also
detrimental. While they might not earn you an
automatic loss, in reality a negative case is as fatal
as an almost automatic loss.
Albeit some arguments are direct responses to the
affirmative benchs case, one should know that
they can be misrepresented or mistaken by