The Order and Basics of a Debate Round

Parent note: The four debaters are designated in the following article by their affirmative or negative position as well as the speeches they give on their team. The positions are:

• "1A" - the team member who gives the 1AC
• "2A" - the team member who gives the 2AC
• "1N" - the team member who gives the 1NC
• "2N" - the team member who gives the 2NC

Often, but not always, the 1A in the affirmative will be the 2N in the negative, while the 2A will be the 1N in the negative. The 2s are typically the team member who dictates strategy in the round with their partner.

In the start of a debate round, you have two teams, the affirmative and the negative. Each team has two people on it, and each person has to give a Constructive speech, a Rebuttal speech and ask questions and answer questions during a cross-examination session. Each person has a role on the team and must work together to make help their partner. Usually while a partner is giving a speech or being (or giving) cross-examination, his/her partner is preparing for their next speech along with organizing the many pieces of evidence they have.

The Constructive Speeches

In the start of a debate, a member of the Affirmative (Aff) team gives an 8-minute speech, called the 1AC; the First Affirmative Constructive. In this speech they present a plan which corresponds to the topic being discussed year round (some examples of past topics include Alternative Energy, Poverty, and Aid to Africa). Then, a member of the Negative (Neg) team asks questions about the Aff’s plan and evidence (and tries to make them look bad) for three-minutes (Cross Examination or Cross-ex).

After this intense questioning, the other Neg team member will stand up and give the 1NC; the First Negative Constructive. This speech responds to the Aff’s plan and rebuts their arguments along with the following potential arguments:

• what bad things will happen if the Plan is done (Disadvantages),
• a way to do the plan better (Counterplan),
• a reason the team is not following the topic (Topicality),
• and an arguments on a philosophical reason to reject either the plan or something the Aff may be supporting (Kritik).

After this, there is another Cross-ex, this time the 1A asks questions of 1N.

After this, the second Aff partner gives an 8-minute speech which must respond to everything the Negative said that was out of the debate over the Plan; this is called the 2AC or the Second Affirmative Constructive. The person giving the 2AC must also give more evidence and explanation of the Plan presented in the 1AC. There is another 3-minute cross ex after this, this time done by the 1N.

Next is the 2NC, an 8-minute speech and the last constructive. Because there are two negative speeches back to back (one after this one, called the 1NR), the team can split up their arguments and are able to give more in-depth explanation. The 2NC stands for the Second Negative Constructive. The last cross-ex session is after this speech and it has the 2A asking questions of the 2N.

The Rebuttal Speeches

After the 2NC, the other negative partner gives the 1NR, which is the First Negative Rebuttal. All rebuttal speeches are 5-minutes and they are primarily based on giving analysis of the evidence presented rather than presenting completely new arguments. There are no cross-examinations after rebuttal speeches.

The Aff team then faces likely the hardest speech in the round – the 1AR; the First Affirmative Rebuttal. The 1A has to respond to 13-minutes of Negative speeches with only 5-minutes of time. If he/she forgets to respond to something, then the Neg team wins that argument automatically.

The Neg has their last speech in the 2NR, the Second Negative Rebuttal. In this speech, the negative team chooses one or two arguments they presented earlier on along with defending the Status Quo in trying to convince the Judge to vote for them. Even if they had 5 Disadvantages and a Counterplan, they usually will pick ONE thing to go for. This allows them to give large logical arguments for their last showing before the Judge.

The Aff team has their last speech in the 2AR, the Second Affirmative Rebuttal. The person making the speech only responds to the ONE big argument the Neg made in their last speech. Analysis is given on why the Aff should win over the Neg.

Then, as everyone waits and shakes each other’s hand…the Judge makes up his/her mind. A moment of suspense follows until the Judge declares the winner.

Most judges give the four debaters advice on what they may have done wrong, and what they can improve on. This is called the Judge’s criticism. Most debaters take notes here, and they pay close attention to see what they could have done differently, or what they are doing correctly.

Speaker-Points

While the Judge decides a winning team, he/she also gives a set number of points to each of the four participants in the round. While the number ranking goes from 0 to 30, usually a Judge ranks debaters on a range of 25 to 30. A 30 is considered “perfect” and very rare while a 27/27.5 is considered “average”. Judges, although only a few, will give 20s or 25s to good debaters if they see something they do that they think is absolutely horrible or outrageous.

If only a set number of teams can break into elimination rounds (where trophies can be won), a tie will be decided firstly by a team’s speaker points.

Each Judge has their own reasoning behind Speaker points and they are never shown until after the tournament. A good debater usually can win a Speaker Award, which is SOLELY based off these points.