Judges Guidelines
Click here to see a video showing shorter sample debate (2 three minute speeches) with suggested scores. The scoring suggestions are in the written description right below the video, so you may have to click the more button at the end of the first line.
The 5 Key Points for Debate Judges
(To download a copy, click on 5 Parl Debate Judges Guidelines in the attachment section below)
1 – You are looking for the best advocate so the side or person that does the best debating— and therefore the side that you give the highest score to — may not be the side that wins the argument.This is similar to the situation in court where the side with the better lawyer may still lose the case— if the facts overwhelmingly favour the other side.
2 - You must be neutral and not let your personal views or specialized knowledge influence your decision
3 -The range of scores is: vweak 70’s, good 80’s, excellent 90’s. -- maximum 95. Eachperson gets a mark between 70 and 95. The categories are just guidelines — the overall mark is much more important. You should mark each category out of 100, and then use those amounts to determine the final mark, which should also be out of 100. For example if you gave 90’s in each of the categories, then your final mark should be in the 90’s. If you gave two 80’s and one 90 in the categories, the overall total should probably be in the high 80’s.
4 -The debate is about the resolution as defined by the government, not what you or the opposition think that the resolution should mean.The government will state what the terms in the resolution mean and their definitions mustbe accepted by the opposition, even it is not what they were expecting, unless the definition is unreasonable or undebatable.
5 -The debaters must respond to their opponent’s arguments and defend their own rather than just deliver prepared speeches. They do not have to refute every point, just the key ones. This should occur in every speech other than the first one (the PM’s)
Ask yourself: If you had to select a high school student to represent you at a trial or meeting and to present and defend your position, is this the one that you would pick. Your concern is how good an advocate they are,not did they win that particular argument.
Manitoba Speech and Debate Association
Scoring Range Guidelines
TOTAL SCORES
90 - 95: An excellent speech. Very convincing. You would find it hard to imagine that a high school debater in this age group could do a better job.
Excellent arguments: well organized and easy to follow, identified the key issues and focused the arguments on those, the arguments were explained persuasively and supported where appropriate with evidence, hard to imagine what more they could have done.
Excellent refutation: Dealt very effectively with their opponents’ case. Showed the flaws in what they were saying, i.e. that the opposing points were wrong, or insufficient, or outweighed by the speaker’s case.
Excellent presentation: Looked up most of the time and their limited use of notes did not interfere with their connection with the audience. Pace and tone varied and were appropriate to what they were saying. The delivery held your attention and drew you in.
80 - 89: A good to a very good speech, but not quite in the 90s because of the following reasons (if one of the reasons applies, it would be in the high 80s, if two in the mid 80s and if 3 the low 80s)
1) While the arguments strongly supported their case, you feel that they were not as convincing as they could have been because they were not sufficiently explained or supported, or because there were some key aspects of topic that they did not address, or because they were not well organized and a bit hard to follow.
2) While they attacked the opposing case, a few important aspects of it were left standing or ignored
3) The presentation had some flaws, e.g. they looked down enough to start to lose your attention, or their tone and pace did not vary appropriately or fully hold your attention
70 - 79: A weaker speech and not impressive. You were not convinced. Not in the 80s because of the following reasons (again if only one applies it would be in the high 70s, if two in the mid 70s, and if three the low 70s)
1) The arguments dealt with the topic but not in a convincing way because they were disorganized, unsupported by evidence or clear reasoning, or they were not the real issue in the debate. It was difficult to follow and not convincing.
2) They did refer to the opposing case, but not in an organized or very effective way and much of the opposing case still sounded convincing to you at the end or at least as convincing as it was before they started to attack it– they did not do much damage to it.
3) The presentation was weak, e.g. they looked down much of the time, or did not vary their tone and pace, it was difficult to pay attention
60 - 69: A very poor speech: The arguments did not make sense, they did not respond to the opposing case, they read their speech.