Debating on: Case Clash Instructor/commentator: Crowe Comments:
Nicely done referring to the un-underlined portion of your opponent's evidence. You were the first to do that, please keep it up if you think it supports your argument!
A few times you had a great first part of the argument, but didn't really discuss the implication. For example, maybe all of their evidence is only about Amtrak, but don't just leave that up to the judge to decide whether that's good or bad. Why is having narrow evidence about Amtrak not sufficient?
In the 2NC you listed many things that contribute to US competitiveness lagging behind. You can call those "alternate causalities."
You got really nervous when you misspoke and said “it’s die or die” – just keep your cool and keep going. Controlling that shows that you can’t be phased. Debaters misspeak all the time, just keep plugging through and the judge won't even remember when the rest of your speech is brilliant ;)
Good job extending your analytic arguments, especially if they weren’t referenced explicitly by your opponent.
Date of debate: 6/23
Debating on: Topicality Instructor/commentator: Kernoff Comments:
1NC:Great job having all the correct parts of a topicality violation in your speech. I like how you didn’t waste time on things like the voting issue that don’t need much explanation. Be louder! It’s hard to hear you! Being louder helps you be more persuasive. Explain your limits argument better. Give some examples of cases that the affirmative would allow. SPS is a good example. You can also say they allow broadband and other transmissions of information.
2NC: I like how you started with “they say.” It makes it easy to flow and understand you. Keep it up the whole debate! You did a good to talk about the source – evidence comparison is always good!, Keep in mind when it comes to topicality that you also need to emphasize why they are bad for debate. Go into detail about cases they allow.
Date of debate: 6/27
Debating on: Spending DA Instructor/commentator: Nicole Comments:
Good reference to 2ac arguments that you want to answer. Some of your cards need to be underlined better - for example reading "Ben bernanke" is not helpful - you can remove his first name. This is a small thing that, when done multiple times, can add up.
For redo
- tell a small overview of your da - the key issue for 15 seconds.
- read more cards on the internal link argument
- more even if type comparisons.
Date of debate:6/25
Debating on:Theory Instructor/commentator:Baker Comments:
-try to avoid arguments that are repetitive
-good use of structuring
Date of debate: 6/30
Debating on: 50 state fiat Instructor/commentator: Charles Comments:
2AR
- You have a ton of good arguments here, but they're not really developed. For the 2AR on theory, it's really crucial to get some BIG framing arguments out there.
- Once you're on the line by line, you pick and choose very well and do a nice job responding to the 2NR. It just needs to be supplemented by the framing stuff at the top. That will make it less defensive, which is really important for going for theory, where judges are going to be predisposed to not want to vote a lot of the time.
2NR
- You want to include some education-based arguments if possible. You're kind of exclusively focused on fairness and ground questions, which gives the aff a lot of room to rant about hurting debate, etc.
- Really nice job on the 'generic neg CPs are good' stuff. That's exactly the right way to approach this set of aff arguments.
- You end up being a little bit repetitive, though. Try to diversify arguments a bit more, and you won't need to reply so fully on the 'generic neg strats are key to neg ground' stuff.
Date of debate: 7/2
Debating on: Practice Debate A - HSR Instructor/commentator: Kernoff Comments:
2AC: You should redo this speech with me tonight. Remember to put the case first when you are affirmative - it's your offense! Use evidence you read in the 1AC to respond to negative case arguments - only read new cards if necessary. You did a good job of this once I reminded you! Use "they say" to respond to each 1NC case argument individually. Good job answering the off-case arguments.
2AR: Good job talking about your warming impact. Talk about why it's more important than the economy. There's not really a point to talking about cooperative federalism. Since they are going for spending, maybe you can talk about how the perm has the states bear some of the spending burden so the federal government doesn't have to spend as much. You did a really good job answering what was in the 2NR - that's what you want to do in the 2AC on the case!
Date of debate: 7/6
Debating on: Practice Debate B Instructor/commentator: Gjerpen Comments: 2AR – keep in mind that the neg extends their states CP, which means they don’t need to extend their on-case arguments. Frame your 2AR differently than “they concede we solve HSR.” You do a nice job of line-by-line on politics, but don’t forget the impact debate. You finish with 1:38 left – plenty of time to impact your arguments and provide analysis.
REDO: You should have an overview at the top of your 2AR that explains your impacts (see above). You should be identifying a handful of arguments that are reasons why the judge should vote aff - examples: perm on States CP, no solvency, link turns on politics. Your 2AR was less than 2 minutes - you should be trying to fill your speech time a bit more. Doing some of this impact calc discussed above would help!
Date of debate: 7/6
Debating on: Practice Debate C Instructor/commentator: Yamamura Comments:
Good 1NC – you were very clear and articulate in the speech and cross-ex. – Be sure to read all of your answers on the write aff advantages. For example, you read a couple of terrorism defense cards on the hegemony advantage, but didn’t address the terrorism advantage that the affirmative read. While you’re reading the right answers, be sure to clearly tell to the judge what your cards are responding to.
1NR - Good job covering everything you wanted, and condensing debates down a little bit to the key arguments.
If you hear in the 2NC cross-ex that your partner forgot to answer a couple of arguments, you can go back in the 1NR and answer these arguments.
On politics, be sure to go line by line and respond to all of the 2AC arguments. You are doing a very good job extending your arguments, but it’s important to compare your uniqueness cards to theirs, compare your links to their link turn etc.
Date of debate:7/7
Debating on:Practice Debate D Instructor/commentator:Baker Comments:
1AC
-don't speak into your laptop - it blocks your voice
-try to maintain a constant tempo no matter the rate of speech; good job varrying your voice for tags though
-try to fill all of the time allotted
CX of the 1AC
-ask fewer general clarification questions, focus on specific arguments to design questions around
-try to plan out your questions to prevent having to pause between questions
1NC
-more often then not, you shouldnt have to take prep before your 1NC
-try to face the person judging the debate when you speak
-make sure to label your various off case arguments before you read any of them
-when you stumble in your speech, try to maintain your rate of speech rather than pausing and resetting
CX of the 1NC
-try avoid beiung lead on a hunt for evidence around the room during the cross-x
2AC
-include a theory argument about the status of the cp and the k
-open your mouth wider to gain clarity; youre mumbling a bit while reading cards
-don't forget to perm the k
CX of the 2AC
-try to keep your cross-x focused on arguments in the debate rather than concepts that just relate to it
-ask fewer open ended questions that allow the other team to just talk
2NC
-take fewer arguments in the 2NC
-always try to have a timer with you during your speech
-you've got a case of the "uhs" and "ums" - try to eliminate it from your speeches
-try to avoid conversing with the other team during your speech
CX of the 2NC
-even if it takes some spin, always try to have an answer to cross-x questions
1NR
-don't forget to give an order for your speech
-try to pick an argument to focus on in your speech and then follow the line by line to make arguments that clash with the other teams arguments
-remember, you arent talking to the other team, but the judge
1AR
-when debates get muddled like this, part of the 1AR's job is to clean things up
-good use of strategic concessions of the other sides arguments in order to support your arguments
-include more impact calclulus relating the aff advantages to the neg impacts
2NR
-don't forget to discuss the alternative in the 2NR - why it solves your link arguments and why it solves or resolves the affs advantages
-good use of the link arguments but make sure that the impact to each of them is clearly weighed against hte aff
-if you're going for the criticism alone, you need to kick out of the states CP and the elections DA
2AR
-use more of your prep time either before the 2AC and always max it out before the 2AR
-focus more on the cap k that the 2NR spends the most time on
-if you truly believe you have extra time, spend it on weighing the case
Date of debate: 7/9
Debating on: Tournament Round 2 Instructor/commentator: Quigley Comments: I voted Aff because the Perm solves some risk of the impacts and I don't think that the alt is likely to be effective at combatting capitalism. Good structure and line by line in the 1NR, don't take prep for the 1NR though!
Date of debate: 7/9
Debating on: Round 4 Instructor/commentator: Yamamura Comments:
2A
- thought the 2AC was good. You should be sure to spend roughly enough time on each argument though. For example, you had far more arguments on politics than the kritik. If it's a strategic decision, that's good, but just make sure you are spending enough time on every negative position.
- the 2AR on the cap K was pretty good. I think you just need to focus the debate more on specific parts. So separate the debate into the link debate, alt debate, impact debate, and make your arguments on each part. Being more organized in the 2AR will help you to identify which arguments you have made and haven't made yet in the speech, as you go line-by-line answering the 2NRs arguments.
Date of Debate: 7/9
Debating on: Round 3 Instructor/Commentator: Baker
-read a card in the 1nc for cp solvency
-always take more up there than you think you'll be able to read in case you have time left - dont leave any time on the table
-try to focus during cross-x
-reference more of the arguments in the 2ac to maintain clarity
-the spending DA needs more time - I'm not sure you have enough time for both it and the CP
EXAMPLE
Date of debate: June 23 Debating on: Constellation aff Instructor/commentator: Nicole Comments:
Awesome job! Best 1AC ever!
Table of Contents
Date of debate: 6/21
Debating on: Case ClashInstructor/commentator: Crowe
Comments:
Nicely done referring to the un-underlined portion of your opponent's evidence. You were the first to do that, please keep it up if you think it supports your argument!
A few times you had a great first part of the argument, but didn't really discuss the implication. For example, maybe all of their evidence is only about Amtrak, but don't just leave that up to the judge to decide whether that's good or bad. Why is having narrow evidence about Amtrak not sufficient?
In the 2NC you listed many things that contribute to US competitiveness lagging behind. You can call those "alternate causalities."
You got really nervous when you misspoke and said “it’s die or die” – just keep your cool and keep going. Controlling that shows that you can’t be phased. Debaters misspeak all the time, just keep plugging through and the judge won't even remember when the rest of your speech is brilliant ;)
Good job extending your analytic arguments, especially if they weren’t referenced explicitly by your opponent.
Date of debate: 6/23
Debating on: TopicalityInstructor/commentator: Kernoff
Comments:
1NC:Great job having all the correct parts of a topicality violation in your speech. I like how you didn’t waste time on things like the voting issue that don’t need much explanation. Be louder! It’s hard to hear you! Being louder helps you be more persuasive. Explain your limits argument better. Give some examples of cases that the affirmative would allow. SPS is a good example. You can also say they allow broadband and other transmissions of information.
2NC: I like how you started with “they say.” It makes it easy to flow and understand you. Keep it up the whole debate! You did a good to talk about the source – evidence comparison is always good!, Keep in mind when it comes to topicality that you also need to emphasize why they are bad for debate. Go into detail about cases they allow.
Date of debate: 6/27
Debating on: Spending DAInstructor/commentator: Nicole
Comments:
Good reference to 2ac arguments that you want to answer. Some of your cards need to be underlined better - for example reading "Ben bernanke" is not helpful - you can remove his first name. This is a small thing that, when done multiple times, can add up.
For redo
- tell a small overview of your da - the key issue for 15 seconds.
- read more cards on the internal link argument
- more even if type comparisons.
Date of debate:6/25
Debating on:TheoryInstructor/commentator:Baker
Comments:
-try to avoid arguments that are repetitive
-good use of structuring
Date of debate: 6/30
Debating on: 50 state fiatInstructor/commentator: Charles
Comments:
2AR
- You have a ton of good arguments here, but they're not really developed. For the 2AR on theory, it's really crucial to get some BIG framing arguments out there.
- Once you're on the line by line, you pick and choose very well and do a nice job responding to the 2NR. It just needs to be supplemented by the framing stuff at the top. That will make it less defensive, which is really important for going for theory, where judges are going to be predisposed to not want to vote a lot of the time.
2NR
- You want to include some education-based arguments if possible. You're kind of exclusively focused on fairness and ground questions, which gives the aff a lot of room to rant about hurting debate, etc.
- Really nice job on the 'generic neg CPs are good' stuff. That's exactly the right way to approach this set of aff arguments.
- You end up being a little bit repetitive, though. Try to diversify arguments a bit more, and you won't need to reply so fully on the 'generic neg strats are key to neg ground' stuff.
Date of debate: 7/2
Debating on: Practice Debate A - HSRInstructor/commentator: Kernoff
Comments:
2AC: You should redo this speech with me tonight. Remember to put the case first when you are affirmative - it's your offense! Use evidence you read in the 1AC to respond to negative case arguments - only read new cards if necessary. You did a good job of this once I reminded you! Use "they say" to respond to each 1NC case argument individually. Good job answering the off-case arguments.
2AR: Good job talking about your warming impact. Talk about why it's more important than the economy. There's not really a point to talking about cooperative federalism. Since they are going for spending, maybe you can talk about how the perm has the states bear some of the spending burden so the federal government doesn't have to spend as much. You did a really good job answering what was in the 2NR - that's what you want to do in the 2AC on the case!
Date of debate: 7/6
Debating on: Practice Debate BInstructor/commentator: Gjerpen
Comments:
2AR – keep in mind that the neg extends their states CP, which means they don’t need to extend their on-case arguments. Frame your 2AR differently than “they concede we solve HSR.” You do a nice job of line-by-line on politics, but don’t forget the impact debate. You finish with 1:38 left – plenty of time to impact your arguments and provide analysis.
REDO: You should have an overview at the top of your 2AR that explains your impacts (see above). You should be identifying a handful of arguments that are reasons why the judge should vote aff - examples: perm on States CP, no solvency, link turns on politics. Your 2AR was less than 2 minutes - you should be trying to fill your speech time a bit more. Doing some of this impact calc discussed above would help!
Date of debate: 7/6
Debating on: Practice Debate CInstructor/commentator: Yamamura
Comments:
Good 1NC – you were very clear and articulate in the speech and cross-ex. – Be sure to read all of your answers on the write aff advantages. For example, you read a couple of terrorism defense cards on the hegemony advantage, but didn’t address the terrorism advantage that the affirmative read. While you’re reading the right answers, be sure to clearly tell to the judge what your cards are responding to.
1NR - Good job covering everything you wanted, and condensing debates down a little bit to the key arguments.
If you hear in the 2NC cross-ex that your partner forgot to answer a couple of arguments, you can go back in the 1NR and answer these arguments.
On politics, be sure to go line by line and respond to all of the 2AC arguments. You are doing a very good job extending your arguments, but it’s important to compare your uniqueness cards to theirs, compare your links to their link turn etc.
Date of debate:7/7
Debating on:Practice Debate DInstructor/commentator:Baker
Comments:
1AC
-don't speak into your laptop - it blocks your voice
-try to maintain a constant tempo no matter the rate of speech; good job varrying your voice for tags though
-try to fill all of the time allotted
CX of the 1AC
-ask fewer general clarification questions, focus on specific arguments to design questions around
-try to plan out your questions to prevent having to pause between questions
1NC
-more often then not, you shouldnt have to take prep before your 1NC
-try to face the person judging the debate when you speak
-make sure to label your various off case arguments before you read any of them
-when you stumble in your speech, try to maintain your rate of speech rather than pausing and resetting
CX of the 1NC
-try avoid beiung lead on a hunt for evidence around the room during the cross-x
2AC
-include a theory argument about the status of the cp and the k
-open your mouth wider to gain clarity; youre mumbling a bit while reading cards
-don't forget to perm the k
CX of the 2AC
-try to keep your cross-x focused on arguments in the debate rather than concepts that just relate to it
-ask fewer open ended questions that allow the other team to just talk
2NC
-take fewer arguments in the 2NC
-always try to have a timer with you during your speech
-you've got a case of the "uhs" and "ums" - try to eliminate it from your speeches
-try to avoid conversing with the other team during your speech
CX of the 2NC
-even if it takes some spin, always try to have an answer to cross-x questions
1NR
-don't forget to give an order for your speech
-try to pick an argument to focus on in your speech and then follow the line by line to make arguments that clash with the other teams arguments
-remember, you arent talking to the other team, but the judge
1AR
-when debates get muddled like this, part of the 1AR's job is to clean things up
-good use of strategic concessions of the other sides arguments in order to support your arguments
-include more impact calclulus relating the aff advantages to the neg impacts
2NR
-don't forget to discuss the alternative in the 2NR - why it solves your link arguments and why it solves or resolves the affs advantages
-good use of the link arguments but make sure that the impact to each of them is clearly weighed against hte aff
-if you're going for the criticism alone, you need to kick out of the states CP and the elections DA
2AR
-use more of your prep time either before the 2AC and always max it out before the 2AR
-focus more on the cap k that the 2NR spends the most time on
-if you truly believe you have extra time, spend it on weighing the case
Date of debate: 7/9
Debating on: Tournament Round 2Instructor/commentator: Quigley
Comments:
I voted Aff because the Perm solves some risk of the impacts and I don't think that the alt is likely to be effective at combatting capitalism.
Good structure and line by line in the 1NR, don't take prep for the 1NR though!
Date of debate: 7/9
Debating on: Round 4Instructor/commentator: Yamamura
Comments:
2A
- thought the 2AC was good. You should be sure to spend roughly enough time on each argument though. For example, you had far more arguments on politics than the kritik. If it's a strategic decision, that's good, but just make sure you are spending enough time on every negative position.
- the 2AR on the cap K was pretty good. I think you just need to focus the debate more on specific parts. So separate the debate into the link debate, alt debate, impact debate, and make your arguments on each part. Being more organized in the 2AR will help you to identify which arguments you have made and haven't made yet in the speech, as you go line-by-line answering the 2NRs arguments.
Date of Debate: 7/9
Debating on: Round 3Instructor/Commentator: Baker
-read a card in the 1nc for cp solvency
-always take more up there than you think you'll be able to read in case you have time left - dont leave any time on the table
-try to focus during cross-x
-reference more of the arguments in the 2ac to maintain clarity
-the spending DA needs more time - I'm not sure you have enough time for both it and the CP
EXAMPLE
Date of debate: June 23Debating on: Constellation aff
Instructor/commentator: Nicole
Comments:
Awesome job! Best 1AC ever!