Coaching
2013 Topic feedback
Posted to the IE-L: Dear LD Community, Hello and greetings from the LD Committee. As you know, our topic area for 2013-2014 will be Public Education. The committee has been busy researching and discussing the topic. We would like your input. Please feel free to send us any comments or suggestions that you may have. [...]
2012 Farm Bill
It appears that the House has recessed without passing the 2012 Farm Bill. As you start to do research on potential cases for this year be very aware of the potential for your case to lose inherency if the 2012 Farm Bill, once passed, dramatically changes policy. CONGRESS is now on its five-week August break, [...]
2012-2013 Topic Announced!
From the IE-L === The NFA Lincoln Douglas debate resolution for 2012-2013 will be as follows: RESOLVED: THE USFG SHOULD SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASE ASSISTANCE FOR ORGANIC AND/OR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. This resolution received a total of 135 points in the tabulation of the ballots returned. The second place resolution received a total of [...]
NDCA Open Evidence Project
I wanted to remind everyone that the National Debate Coaches Association runs the “Open Evidence Project” which aims to release thousands of files from high school debate camps to the debate community. While a lot of the files are obviously not relevant for us this year (although if your case deals with space it may [...]
Debating the Most Intuitive Cases Under the Resolution
Part of being a successful debater is having a solid case. What exactly qualifies as a solid case is open for debate (pun intended). I have always been an advocate of debating the most intuitive case under the resolution. Some of my contemporaries believe in cutting obscure cases that either barely meet the burdens of [...]
Taming the Kritik: How to Beat a Kritik Debater in LD
Today I’ll explain how to engage in kritik debate and some useful strategies to beat back the dreaded K. Although the kritik remains rare in LD debate it is not entirely absent from rounds and tournaments. Some enterprising debaters have changed the headings to DA – Counterplan, but make no mistake – It’s a kritik. [...]
Summer Prep 101: An LD’ers Guide to Taking Advantage of Your Summer Break. Part 3 of 3
So, you’ve finished most of the heavy lifting necessary for next year’s resolution. What’s left is Contention Development targeted at the most likely cases/arguments. At this point in your summer research you should have quite a few articles that you’ve collected and turned into policy chains. From these policy chains you should have generated tags [...]
Surveying Attitudes Toward Topical Counterplans in LD
Matt Whitman, a debater from Western Kentucky University, has asked me to pass this along – he’s promised to come back and summarize his results when he finishes his thesis. “Aside from the annual topic change, NFA-LD (and really, the rest of forensics) continues to evolve as an activity itself. As competitors, coaches, and critics, [...]
Summer Prep 101: An LD’ers Guide to Taking Advantage of Your Summer Break. Part 2 of 3
Last week we discussed researching the topic area and building a policy chain. This week we can start putting it all together by tagging and/or frontlining all of the literature in your policy chain. At this point there is no right or wrong way to approach cutting/frontlining. As long as you’re gathering evidence for good [...]
Amended Resolutions
Per an email sent to the IE-L on Thursday, May 5 at 5:49pm the Lincoln Douglas Committee has revised the wording of the 5 resolutions: The Lincoln Douglas Committee has revised the wording of the 5 resolutions for clarification reasons. If you have already voted, and feel you need to change your ballot, send me [...]
Why do you participate in debate?
Now that the season is over I think it’d be a great time to reflect: why do you participate in debate? I often find these conversations are helpful at the end of the season when so many coaches and students are experiencing burnout and may feel like all the hard work of the season was [...]
Summer Prep 101: An LD’ers Guide to Taking Advantage of Your Summer Break. Part 1 of 3
Being a winning LD debater starts with your work ethic. For both the novice and the advanced competitor, success in Lincoln-Douglas debate is about research. Those who are willing to do the research give themselves a competitive advantage in every round they enter. This is because they understand the topic area well enough to articulate to [...]
