Debate Procedures

 

Summary

-The 'judge' is the staff member moderating the topic, and should be the one who started the topic. The 'judge' selects the 3 topics as well as the time requirements for arguments.

-The Teams Affirmative and Negation are also selected by the 'judge'. The title is simply to set the teams apart and determine how the topic is selected.

-The arguments are divided into a series of 3: Primary, Secondary, and Rebuttal. In the first two arguments, neither team is allowed to respond to the points of the other team upon risk of disqualification.

-The Primary Argument is the longest in the series and is written mostly by the Leaders of each team (and should only be posted by the Leaders).

-The Secondary Argument is the second in the series and is meant to back-up what has already been said by the Team Leader. Each team selects only one member to form this argument.

-The Rebuttal is the last argument and is intended to allow for the two teams to respond to their opponent's other arguments.

-The winning team is determined by a vote of approval: the vote shall be done through PM to the 'judge' in order to avoid intellectual dishonesty (team members voting for their own teams).


In-depth Explanation

To begin with, two teams agree to participate in a debate (both teams must comply with the Debate Team requirements). To start a debate, a debate member selects three topics of interest. The teams are named the Affirmative and Negation: the Leader Affirmative strikes a topic first then the Leader Negation strikes another topic, whatever is left is the topic of the debate.

Teams will be given a set amount of time to form an argument. If a team doesn't post their argument by the time allotted, they shall be disqualified. The first argument shall be named the Primary Argument and is to be posted by the Leader of each group. If either group's argument contains rebuttals/responses to the other group's argument, they will be disqualified. The Primary Argument must be at least 5 paragraphs in length.

Following the Primary Argument, each team will select another one of their members to form a Secondary Argument. This also must not contain any responses or rebuttals to the other team's argument, with disqualification still applying. The Secondary argument may be no longer than 2 paragraphs in length, thus making a summary of the team's argument.

The final round is the Rebuttal round. Each team is given a chance to counter the points made in their opponent's arguments. These must be short and direct, if a Rebuttal is too lengthy or indirect the team will be forced to reword their argument by the judge by a certain amount of time.

Upon completion of the debate, all forum members are allowed to vote in approval of one of the two teams. The team with the greatest vote of approval wins the debate.