Frequently Asked Questions

Are students required to speak for their full speaking time?

The length of a speech is its maximum time. A student may use any amount of time in a speech.

If a student does not use the full amount of available speaking time and does not address important issues in the debate, that is an ineffective speech. If, however, a student manages to present brilliant argumentation and overwhelms the opposing side in 3 minutes of speaking time instead of a full 6 or 5 minutes, that is an outstanding speech. The latter speaker can sit and expect individual speaker points matching an exceptional performance.

If students are debating as a 2-person team (an infrequent exception), may a student deliver both constructive speeches?

No. On a 2-person team, both debaters deliver a constructive speech and the first constructive speaker presents the rebuttal speech.

Are teams required to present burdens of proof for the respective sides in a debate?

Some debaters will identify “burdens” for their team (“We have to prove x to win the debate”). Some will identify burdens for the other team (“In order to win the debate, our opponent will have to prove Y”). This is not required. Identifying a burden of proof is an argument – either team may introduce the issue but, like any argument, will need to appropriately apply it and defend it.

In addition, the fact that it might be stated by one team in the debate does not make it relevant or meaningful for the other team in the debate. If a proposition team’s opening speaker on a topic regarding abolition of the death penalty states: “The opposition team must show that the use of the death penalty is moral in all circumstances,” that does not oblige the opposition to meet that burden. The opposition might argue that the burden is irrelevant to the ultimate evaluation of the death penalty and that the opposition will offer acceptable justifications for keeping the death penalty on entirely other grounds.

Can the proposition team ‘limit’ the topic or narrow the debate?

Yes. In fact, it is inevitable that the proposition team must limit the topic. After all, topics may be too broad for a sensible and focused discussion with a 6-minute opening speech.

When limiting the topic, the proposition team should be mindful that the limitation ought to be a reasonable one. The proposition cannot place a limit on the topic that is so severe that it is not possible to have a coherent debate. For example, on the topic, Television is a bad influence, the opening speaker cannot make a case that television is a bad influence on the proposition team alone and on no one else. There is no way for the opposition team to disprove that proposition case – there is no basis for reasonable debate. But it is not reasonable to presume that the proposition side of that debate must argue that all television in all locations for all time is a bad influence. It would be acceptable for proposition teams to argue any of several limits on the topic, e.g., Television, meaning contemporary entertainment and news programming in the US, is a bad influence, meaning that it has more negative social, economic, and/or educational outcomes than positive ones. That would be a reasonable limitation on the topic and a valid basis for debate.