“That implies some sort of question about morality or correctness, either in the affirmative or the negative.” “In this type of debate you see lots of ‘ought’ terminology,” says Hyland. The debate consists of five speeches with periods of cross-examination, and propositions that are usually value-related. In the Lincoln-Douglas format, one person takes the affirmative side of the argument and one person takes the negative side. Lincoln-Douglas debate: The inspiration for this format was provided by the famous debates between American senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in the 1850s. The team with the strongest evidence and most organized presentation wins. The debate features four constructive speeches and four rebuttal speeches. One team (the affirmative side) argues in favor of a previously selected proposition while the other team (the negative side) argues against it. public policy debate topic for 2013-2014 is “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela.” Public policy debate: This is the oldest and likely best-known form of debate practiced at both the high school and college levels. Master delivery through debate and you too can speak confidently, logically and persuasively about any topic. They will learn that whichever side of the topic they argue, the point is not as much about which side they take, but how they are able to support their arguments logically. Have members take turns debating both sides of an argument. You can develop your own speaking style by practicing debate formally in your club (consult the Toastmasters Debate Handbook: A Guide to Competitive Speaking (item 104) for more information).
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While debate students learn how to develop a convincing argument, they also develop and improve their speaking styles.ĭebate styles are developed through the mastery of the tone and volume of the speaker’s voice, and the rate of his or her speech. And, of course, the debate is very structured.” “It’s more of the fact that the ideas being expressed should conflict.
“Clash doesn’t have the emotional ramifications you might associate with the word,” she says.
If that sounds unusually belligerent for an academic contest, the participants don’t look at it that way, Hyland says. The way we refer to is that there’s going to be more clash, and it’s going to be substantive clash.” There’s going to be more point-counterpoint extension of a particular thought. “The structure of an academic debate normally has a single topic, and involves more back-and-forth.
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“The debates you see on TV are more showmanship,” says Roberta Hyland, second vice president of the National Catholic Forensics League, an organization that runs local and national debate tournaments for high school students throughout the United States. And, because scores are kept, there are always identifiable winners and losers.įor anyone more accustomed to the heated rhetoric of talking heads on panel shows, or to the hammer-blow bombast of sound bites or the whizzed up back-and-forth of campaign talk, classic debate can be rarified air, indeed. However, it is only in the third scenario-the classic academic debate-in which arguments rise or fall solely on the weight of evidence and the logic and organization of a presentation rather than on rhetorical flair or showmanship. We’re likely more familiar with the first two, which are more public, more histrionic and less focused this is speech designed not just to persuade, but to produce visceral reactions, even inflame passions. Minutes later, without fanfare, another student refutes that argument and methodically lays the foundation for an opposite point of view.Īll three of these scenarios are recognized as debates. People most often associate debate with politics, such as the verbal commotion on the floor of the British House of Commons or the miasma of cross-talk, denials and interruptions that define televised debates between American presidential candidates.īut consider the classic debate style, as when a high school student-sometimes in a nearly empty classroom-presents a brief but strongly referenced argument in favor of a topic like rehabilitation rather than retribution in the criminal justice system.
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