By Russell Leibowitz, Brandeis University  2014 One of the most undervalued debate skills is being able to work well with a partner. Unfortunately, it’s not something that can be easily…

By: Adele Zhang, Barnard College 2015 Counter-cased rounds can sometimes get a bit messy and confusing. The main thing to do is to think hard about the counter-case and ask…

By:  Jodie Goodman, Swarthmore College 2016 When I’m PM’ing, I like to start working on crystalizing the round as early as the Member of the Opposition’s speech. That’s when I…

By: Michael Norton, Brandeis 2016 Introduction: The MG position is one that is highly flow dependent. Not only is the MG speech one that is delivered almost directly off the…

By: Alex Mechanick, Brown University, ’15 What is calling a case “status quo”? Status quo is a Latin phrase meaning “the state in which”, used to reference the present state…

By: Alex Alifimoff, Stanford University 2015 There are a number of schools of thought on how to give proper APDA rebuttals. Being an excellent rebuttalist is a skill that most…

By: Allison Douglis, Yale University 2015 The Leader of the Opposition’s Constructive The Leader of the Opposition’s Constructive, or the LOC, is an eight-minute speech that immediately follows the Prime…

By: Young Seol, Brown University 2014 Points of Clarification, more commonly known as POCs, are questions the Opposition team asks the Government team after case construct has been read but…

By: Alex Alifimoff, Stanford University 2015 Points of Information (often called POIs) in American Parliamentary Debate often seem supplementary, so they go unconsidered by the average novice debater. Yet, they’re…