Debate

“If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.”

–Voltaire

Debate

A formal contest of argumentation in which two opposing teams defend and attack a given proposition.

Resolution

The proposition or topic to be debated. There are three types of resolutions-resolutions of fact, value, and policy.

Policy Resolution

A resolution stating that a certain policy or course of action should be taken. The recently announced 2009-2010 NCFCA Policy Resolution is:

Resolved: That the United States Federal Government should significantly reform its environmental policies.

Team Policy Debate

A debate in which one team affirms, or says “yes” to the policy resolution, and the other team says “no” to the resolution. Each team consists of two debaters. The affirmative team must present and defend a specific plan that meets the terms of the resolution. The negative team argues that the affirmative team’s proposal should not be adopted.

Team Policy Debate Round

One complete debate, during which each team member delivers two speeches-a constructive speech and a rebuttal speech. Each round lasts about 90 minutes, including prep time. The speeches are organized as follows:

Debate Tournament

A debate competition in which each team debates multiple rounds. Teams debate half their rounds on the affirmative side, and half on the negative side. A judge or panel of judges determines the winner of each round.

Qualifying Tournament

In our league, qualifying tournaments or “qualifiers” are NCFCA-sanctioned tournament with six preliminary rounds followed by elimination rounds, or “outrounds.”  All teams that advance to the outrounds qualify for participation in the NCFCA Region 3 Invitational Tournament.  At that tournament, teams can qualify to NCFCA’s annual National Championship.  For a list of qualifiers in Region 3, please visit out tournaments page.