JV DEBATE GUIDELINES 2024-25
Resolved: In U.S. History, Benjamin Franklin was more important than Thomas Jefferson.
Debate Format:
1st Affirmative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (2nd Negative Speaker cross-exams 1st Affirmative Speaker)
1st Negative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (1st Affirmative Speaker cross-exams 1st Negative Speaker)
2nd Affirmative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (1st Negative Speaker cross-exams 2nd Affirmative Speaker)
2nd Negative Constructive - 3 minutes
CX - 1 minute (2nd Affirmative Speaker cross-exams 2nd Negative Speaker)
1st Negative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
1st Affirmative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
2nd Negative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
2nd Affirmative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
Each Team will have a total of 5 minutes of Prep time.
Rules
1. A team consists of two JV competitors. The team must not switch partners during the tournament.
2. There is an affirmative team and a negative team. The affirmative must uphold the resolution. The negative may negate the resolution and/or the affirmative's case.
3. Each team has a total budget of 5 minutes of preparation time which may be used or discarded as desired by the teams. The five minutes cover both partners of the team (i.e. if the 1st negative speaker uses all 5 minutes for his/her 1st negative constructive, then no prep time is available for any other negative speech). A debater may take prep time before any speech except the 1st Affirmative Constructive. A debater may not take prep time before a cross examination.
4. Evidence from a source must be publicly available. The evidence must be physically present on
paper and be available to the opposing team and to the judge if requested.
5. Debaters may not display props or visual aids to the judge.
6. The judge will fill out a ballot that will be given to the junior debaters after the awards
ceremony. On the ballot will be the decision about which team won the round as well as specific
feedback for each speaker.
7. No new arguments are allowed in the rebuttal speeches (see helpful hints #3).
Evidence Guidelines
• Evidence may be an article, quote, or paragraph from a book, newspaper, or online source.
• You must include the entire paragraph that your evidence is found in to make sure appropriate context is included. However, you do not have to read the entire paragraph.
• NO MANIPULATION of the evidence (cutting out or adding words or moving around sentences) is allowed.
• The source (along with credentials) and date of when the evidence was published must be included in your citation and read aloud to judge and opponents when presenting the evidence.
Helpful Hints & Explanations
1. Debate is a competition between 2 teams, each supporting their side of the resolution. Affirmative is affirming the resolution (yes, the resolution is true). The negative team negates the resolution (no, the resolution isn’t true).
2. Constructive Speech Purpose: Constructive speeches are used to introduce and build arguments in the round and/or to respond to previous speakers.
3. Rebuttal Speech Purpose: Rebuttal speeches are used to respond to and extend existing lines of argumentation and to emphasize the most important issues in the round. No new arguments
may be presented in rebuttal speeches. New evidence, examples, analysis, analogies, etc. that support previously introduced lines of argumentation, are permitted in rebuttal speeches.
4. There will be two rounds of JV debate providing each team the opportunity to debate the resolution on both the Affirmative and Negative positions.
5. An older debate "mentor" student can be present with each team. This assistance by an older "mentor" student is recommended for your JV debate teams making sure, among other things, the junior competitors speak in the correct order. The older "mentor" students can be students recruited from your local Club who commit to assist your group's JV TP debate teams during their debate rounds. If your Club has no older srudents to be JV debate team "mentors", we will work to recruit older students who in the first JV debate round do not break to TP/LD Finals and in the second JV debate round are not in a Speech Final.
6. Each debate team member should bring 5-8 “cards” of evidence for both Affirmative and Negative sides of the resolutions.
a. “Tag lines” are helpful titles for each piece of evidence to sum up what the main argument or point of the evidence is.
b. Practice reading the evidence before the tournament to make sure you know how to pronounce the tricky words and understand what they mean
7. Pens, notebooks/flowpads, sticky-notes, evidence, water, and copy of these rules are allowed in the round.
8. HAVE FUN! This is a learning experience for everyone and so make sure to relax and have fun!