Unpack Debate Jargon

Affirmative

The affirmative team supports the resolution.

Affirmative Constructive

The affirmative constructive, or first affirmative constructive in some events, is when the pro team lays out their reasons for affirming the resolution.

Alternative

Argued as part of a kritik, the alt is the method by which the kritik seeks to resolve the problematic system or ideology argued for by the opposing team.

Analytic

An analytical response is one that does not include any evidence.

Ballot

A ballot is the judge's decision. Within it, they will decide who won the round and usually provide a reason for the decision (RFD).

Block

Blocks are pre-written responses to arguments on the topic. They generally include evidence to support them.

Break/Broke

To break at a tournament means to make it into the elimination or "out rounds" of a tournament.

Bye Round

A bye round means the team does not have to debate the round and they are granted a win. This can happen if their opponents do not show up or if they are a top seed at a tournament.

Card

A card is a way to format evidence for a debate round. Cards are “cut” to include only the most important portions of the evidence and increase efficiency.

Case

A case is a prewritten speech given in a constructive and generally consists of contentions or advantages.

Claim

A claim is a point a debtaer is asserting to be true.

Clash

Clash occurs when opposing arguments directly engage with each other. For instance, if both teams have a climate change impact then there is clash between them.

Clipping

Clipping is when a debater cuts a piece of evidence to say something other than what the author meant. For instance, if an article said: "the economy will not fall apart this year," clipping the card would make it say: "The economy will fall apart this year." This is against the rules and has caused teams to lose rounds and be removed from tournaments.

Collapse

To collapse means to diregard unimportant arguments and only focus on the points a team is winning. This is a ubiquitious practice across all debate events.

Con

The con team is against the resolution/topic presented.

Concede

When a team concedes an opposing team's argument it means they do not contest and the other team wins that part of the argument.

Constructive

Constructives are the first speech(es) in a round. They are used for teams to lay out their positions and in some event types, respond to their opponents.

Contention

A contention is another word for an argument.

Counterplan

A counterplan is an alternative proposal presented by the negative side that addresses the major issues raised by the affirmative.

Cross Application

A cross-application draws from the rebutalist's case to respond to the opponent’s arguments. In other words, it involves using arguments made during the first couple of speeches and directly applying them to the opposing team's arguments.

Cross examination

Cross examination is when one team asks questions of the other.

Cross fire

Cross fire is when both sides ask each other questions during the round.

Cutting Cards

Cutting cards is a way of saying a debater is formatting pieces of evidence for an upcoming debate round.

Debate Tournament

A debate tournament is the most frequent method of debating. Generally occurring on weekends, the tournaments consist of preliminary rounds and are then followed by a play off, or what debaters call out rounds.

Disclosure

Disclosure is a norm established on the national circuit, as well as in some states, where debaters must put their cases up on the openCaselist wiki once they have completed a round.