Archive for January, 2008
Structuring Topicality, Topicality Part 3
C) Standards The heart of a topicality violation comes down to the standards debate. Here is where you prove that your interpretation is superior to the affirmative team’s definition. After you’ve argued your interpretation and violation, the judge has two different interpretations of a word or phrase in the resolution. Which one should she choose? [...]
Structuring Topicality, Topicality Part 2
There are a few varieties of “topicality” positions to run. The first, covered below, is a straight up clash of definitions. There are also “effects-t” and “extra-t” topicality positions that will be discussed in future posts Topicality Shell – Definitions There are four basic components of a well-run topicality violation. These are: A) Interpretation B) [...]
Introduction to Topicality, Post 1 of 5
When I first started judging and coaching NFA-LD I assumed given the impression of the event from afar that topicality would rarely be argued. Was I wrong! At our first tournament Cerritos did not even have answers to topicality and our affirmative teams were really hit hard with that oversight. An interesting difference between CEDA/NPDA/NDT [...]
Great ideas for “passive” research
Perhaps your courseload prevents you from scanning 9 different websites daily for new items about the Greater Horn of Africa. Why not allow the power of RSS to do the work for you? Here are two tips: 1) Use Google News Alerts. Go to Google’s News Alerts Page. Put in the search term “Greater Horn [...]
Opportunity not aid
Interesting article in Businessweek – would make some great generic negative cards to use against any case! These discussions, especially the one on foreign aid, contained some surprises. Going in, we expected to hear the all too familiar lament on the need for more aid. Instead, one participant after another cited the distorting effect aid [...]
Links
Here are some great sites you can use while writing a case or finding answers to various cases: Columbia University African Studies Resources Univ Penn African Studies Center United States Institute of Peace Horn of Africa web links Point Loma roughly 2 weeks to go! Register for the tournament at forensicstournament.net! Share on Facebook
Teleology of Debate
I join Danny in wishing all of our readers and contributors on this page a happy and healthy new year. During this time of resolutions, it seems fitting to take a step back and reflect on the activity of debate. What is the desired end, the purpose of debate? In philosophical terms, this is its [...]
Happy New Year
I hope everyone had a fantastic new year! We’ve got a lot in store for the site this year and hope that lots of people try NFA-LD this semester! The California Community College Forensics Association will offer NFA-LD at the state tournament (each school gets 4 LD entries – they may be divided between parli-ld [...]
