By: Ben Kornfeld, Yale University 2013 Every debater, even the best, has the occasional mental lapse. Positions are taken that were not well thought out, a contradictory advocacy is provided…

By: Sean Leonard, Rutgers University 2016 Whether you’re pretending it didn’t happen on your side, losing horribly to one in PMR that you missed throughout the round, or delivering an…

By: Young Seol, Brown University 2014 One of the best ways to improve as a debater, particularly for novices without any prior debate experience, is to simply watch lots of…

By: Jodie Goodman, Swarthmore College 2016 Some tournaments, like American University Pro-Ams, are called straight-linked tournaments. At the beginning of each round, one or more topics will be presented to…

By: Pete Falk, Northeastern University 2016 On APDA, “winning the room” means getting the judge and other people watching the round to think you are winning, or support you, whether…

By: Pete Falk, Northeastern University 2016 In order to win a debate round, you need to show why what you’re saying is important, and why it is more important than…

By Sean Leonard, Rutgers University 2016 Compared to every type of speech you may give in your debate career, the PMR will probably take the most time to master. Opposition…

By: Michael Norton, Brandeis University 2016 Introduction In parliamentary debate, the Point of Information (POI) is a chance to offer a question or statement to the opposing team while they…

By: Young Seol, Brown University  2014 “On balance, people should not run cases that end with ‘preferable to the status quo.’ Caveat: Opp cannot countercase, tight call, or win.” —…

By: Russell Leibowitz, Brandeis University 2014 Being able to get good speaks against an undertime speech is a valuable skill on APDA. It enables you to move higher in the…