Lincoln Douglas

Lincoln Douglas (LD) is a one-versus-one debate format. It consists of an affirmative and negative side and is generally considered to be focused on philosophical and moral questions. LD is highly regionalized with certain states adopting a slower version of the activity and others (including the national circuit) utilizing a more technical style.

Line-by-line

Line-by-line refers to a strategy where a team responds to each argument point by point. This contrasts with the use of “voting issues,” which focus on overarching themes in the debate. Most rebuttals follow the line-by-line approach.

Link

The link is where debaters assert causality between the resolution and an outcome.

Link Turn

A link turn is a type of turn where a debater accepts their opponent’s impact but argues that the link makes the impact more likely, rather than preventing it—or vice versa.

Link-in

To link-in means that one impact gains access to the other. I.e. climate change links to poverty.

Local Circuit

The local circuit refers to an individual state circuit or a specific league in a major city.

Magnitude

Magnitude is the multiplication of severity times scope. While one person dying may have a high severity, it does not have a large magnitude. Similarly, 1,000 people losing internet would also not have a large magnitude.

Maverick

Maverick refers to debaters who do not have a partner in two versus two formats.

Mitigation

Mitigatory responses downplay the significance of an argument's impact rather than directly refuting it. For example, if a team argues that their proposal would prevent a recession, a mitigatory response might claim that the recession’s impact on the economy would be minor. Mitigation is one of the least effective ways to respond to an opponent’s argument.

NSDA Campus

NSDA campus is a video conference platform made specifically for debate.

National Circuit

The national circuit refers to TOC bid tournaments and generally consists of teams who consistently travel out of state to compete.

National Debate Coaches Association

The National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing debate education by providing resources, professional development, and a supportive community for debate coaches. It hosts a national championship as well openCaselist.

National Speech & Debate Association

The National Speech and Debate Association is the primary governing body of speech and debate within the United States. They release topics for each event and host NSDA Nationals, which is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year.

Negative

The negative team is against the resolution/topic presented.

Negative Constructive

The negative constructive, or first negative constructive in some events, is when the con team lays out their reasons for negating the resolution.

Non-unique

A non-unique argument challenges the uniqueness of an opponent’s claim by disputing their description of the current state of affairs. Since uniqueness refers to the baseline condition or status quo, a non-unique argument asserts that this baseline is incorrect or undermines the opponent’s argument. For example, if a team claims that implementing a specific policy will fix the economy, a non-unique response would argue that the economy is already improving on its own, making the proposed policy unnecessary.

Novice

A novice is a person with one or fewer years of debate experience.

Octafinals

Octafinals is for the top 16 teams of a tournament and is the elimination round which directly precedes quarter finals.

Off Case

Off-case positions are arguments read by the negative in constructive that are independent from what the affirmative said in their first constructive.

Offensive Response

Offensive responses generate a reason for the judge to vote for the side making them. They are usually turns.

Out Rounds

Out rounds are the stages of a debate tournament that occur after preliminary rounds. Only the top-performing teams or debaters advance to out rounds, which are single-elimination—meaning once a team loses, they are out of the tournament.

Overview

An Overview refers to a response that addresses the opposing team’s entire argument before tackling specific points. Overviews can be either offensive, like a turn, or defensive, like a no-link. For example, in a debate about regulating cryptocurrency, a defensive overview might argue that companies would simply ignore the regulations, preventing any of the proposed impacts. An offensive overview, on the other hand, might argue that increased regulation would destabilize cryptocurrency rather than make it more secure, directly countering the opponent’s case.

Paradigm

A paradigm is produced by every judge. Within it, they will list out their preferences and anything else they think a debater should know.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is a practice where instead of directly quoting evidence, debaters will put it into their own words. In many regions, and especially in Lincoln Douglas and Policy, paraphrasing is heavily discouraged.