Debate Terminology Week 4 Ms. Haen Debate

Diction Word choice and how you speak those words Involves both the way you speak (enunciation) and what the speech actually involves (not using jargon, easy to follow) When writing cases, consider word choice!! This can be extremely tricky in a case!

Poise Ease with which debater speaks Speaking smoothly with confidence No wavering (in voice or movement) No stuttering No “vocal pauses” No actual pauses

Angry Debater Syndrome (ADS) A debater who lacks respect for debate etiquette, thus diminishing his/her presentation It can be considered ADS if you refer to your opponent by NAME or use the pronouns “HE” or “HER”!! Signs are: speaking with an angry/hostile/rude/overly aggressive tone, interrupting his/her opponent, telling the judge what to do, constantly looking at your opponent, etc.

Sub point A minor point that supports the main point Not the same thing as a contention! Each sub point would be under a contention or criterion

Tag Line Headline for any given part of speech that condenses your argument into one sentence Think of your skeleton case- THOSE are considered taglines! Hint as to what is in this piece of the constructive GREAT FOR SIGNPOSTING! Like a topic sentence in each contention/value/etc. A tagline should be an argumentative statement It is NOT “My first contention considers costs.”

Crystallization Clarifying and concluding your case done at the end of the last speech Crystallizing involves summing up your case Summarizing what they feel have been the crucial areas of conflict throughout the round, and demonstrate how their side has fulfilled its obligations as per the resolution– VOTING ISSUES are within crystallization

Voting Issues A.k.a. voters When you tell the judge why he/she should declare you the winner Typically three in a regular debate; two in this class Voting issues are arguments that have been won by one side or another that conclude that the resolution is true or false, and the debater(s) want to bring this point up one more time to win debate These are ARGUMENTS that have been brought up before, not new information!

Negative Burden The “burden” that NEG brings into the round Essentially two things: 1) Neg can win by proving AFF wrong OR 2) Neg can win by proving the rez false NEG proves resolution to be false BY ATTACKING THE AFF CASE While it’s true the NEG is proving the resolution incorrect, it is important to note that it is doing so by proving AFF wrong NEG spends most of it’s time on the offense, attacking AFF

Turn “Turning” a sub point, contention, or entire constructive against your opponent This can be done by arguing that the argument either concludes Case actually brings a different result Case actually brings harm (rather than being beneficial) Turning the opposition’s arguments against them by demonstrating that their analysis is not true and that you can better remedy the problems they address

Observation COMES BEFORE VALUE IN CONSTRUCTIVE Can be a couple things… Definitions Things that are “allowed” by the resolution When talking about murder, you can observe that someone is actually being killed An assumption of the resolution that provides for fair and reasonable debate When talking about “murder”, you can almost always observe that the murder was unjust Observations: Credibility of books is higher than that of most websites. Observation: There are no library assistants to constantly help students shuffle through mass amounts of information

Conditional Debaters claim their case is “conditional” when they claim the right conditions have not been met A slick way of avoiding an argument EX: Justice is only met when everyone is given a fair trial, but all humans are fallible so no example can prove justice has actually been met AFF Case affirms the resolution when certain conditions are present

Topicality All arguments must stem from the resolution Example If you can prove your opponent is not “on topic,” you have put flaws in their case but have not won outright Example Resolved: Death penalty is immoral. If the AFF revolves around the statement, “murder is immoral,” the debater would be OFF TOPIC because death penalty is not legally defined as murder and it’s not encompassing the WHOLE rez

Warrant What connects the argument to your support This is not necessarily a debate term– more of an argument term you will want to know! What connects the argument to your support Like the “why” of an argument If you don’t make this connection (whether it be explicit or implicit), you are not giving your judge a reason to believe your claim.

Warrant The logical connection between your argument and the evidence (the WHY of the argument). How your evidence clearly supports your claim is the warrant. This is helped by the assumption you make about what your audience thinks about the topic/a statement Without a clear warrant, your arguments may not make sense! Ex: Muffin is sick. WHY? She has a fever and runny nose. Ex: Murder is immoral. WHY? Many cultures see it as unlawfully taking a life OR it goes against one’s morality.

Find the warrant For the past 10 years, girls have outperformed boys in their grades at MHS. However, boys will consistently perform better on the SAT than girls. Because of this disconnection, some claim that the SAT is biased against girls. What is the warrant? Because girls do better in school, but that does not translate into doing better on the test (therefore, something is wrong!)

Impact Explanation of why something is important, and thus how it influences the outcome of the debate (the “so what”) MANY OF US ARE FORGETTING THIS!!!! Resolved: A salad is more healthy than pizza. Lettuce is the best source of fiber, as stated by the food pyramid and the FDA. Fiber is important to humans. WARRANT: All salads contain copious amounts of lettuce. Since all salads have lettuce, they all have fiber. IMPACT: Since fiber is a necessary part of the human diet, lettuce is essential to the human diet. Therefore, I have proven how salads benefit the human body more than pizzas. No pizza has more lettuce than a pizza… (the “so what”)

Impact, cont. Impacts need to be proven, not just assumed– so make sure to EXPLAIN each impact! An easy way for your opponent to win is when you do not impact your card to you value/criterion! (so, explain how this card proves your point!)

Make sure to make those note cards! Quiz on Friday Make sure to make those note cards!