How to Prepare for Debate
Use underlined words as your shopping list. You will need one set of supplies per team of two people.
Split the cost with your teammate.
1. Acquire a debate box, multi-colored 4X6 cards, and dividers labeled: definitions, inherency, harm,
plan, advantage, disadvantage, briefs, cross-examination (cross x).
2. Acquire four different colored highlighter pens to mark portions of articles as you read them using
color-coding to signify the category.
3. Gather articles of interest that are related to your topic making sure that everything is from a
CREDIBLE source.
4. Highlight portions of the articles in appropriate colors, which relate to the stock issues of debate.
We will use:
 Pink=Harm
**The more
**You’ll also want to create a section and
“harms” you
 Blue=Inherency
note cards for general info like history
find, the greater

Green=Solvency
and the status quo!
the significance
of your problem!  Orange=Advantage
 Yellow=Disadvantage
5. Cut out pertinent quotations and glue them to your 4X6 cards.
Nota bene: All cards must be appropriately labeled with source, date, and author, or they will not be
admissible as evidence in your debate.
Stock Issues and Other Categories for Debate File
Definitions/Topicality: Define any words in resolution or argumentation that need explanation for
your purposes in this debate.
Significance/Harm: How much harm will occur if we keep things the way they are and do nothing
to change the present policies? How significant are they? Once you have decided on the most
important harms, find as many pieces of evidence as you can to prove their significance. Heartwrenching stories are very effective.
Solvency (Plan): How can the problem be solved? What agency will bring the change? How will
you pay for it and enforce it? Be thorough and get as much evidence that your plan will work as
possible. Was it ever tried elsewhere? How much will it cost?
Advantage (Benefits from plan): What advantages will your plan give over what is presently being
done? Advantage should be related to harms that have now disappeared. Try to find more than six.
Disadvantage: (Use for negative exclusively) What disadvantages may occur if the change is made? Try
to find more than six.
Prima Facie
Inherency: Barriers in the present system that prevent you from solving the problem. First identify
the barriers, and then find the evidence to prove they exist and how you’d overcome them.
Brief-Info: Make a series of debate cards where you speculate on what the opponent may say. Write:
If they say X, we will say Y. Attach a piece of evidence that supports Y. You should have 5 brief-infopreps per debater for the affirmative side and 5 briefs per debater for the negative side (10 briefs in
all for each team). Make them effective weapons against your opponent.
Cross-Examination: You must each create three sets of cross-examination questions in advance to be
used on your side (6 sets in all) We will learn to do this together.
Nota bene: The judges will decide for one side or the other by listening to arguments and evidence. If
your debate file is fat and well organized, you will have arguments and evidence in abundance from
which you may draw at a moment’s notice. If not, you will stammer and search for a way to win the
war with no ammunition! Do not put yourself in this position.
BE PREPARED! GATHER AND ORGANIZE INFORMATION DAILY.
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Debate Duties
The AFFIRMATIVE must seek to change the status quo by stating and supporting the resolution.
The affirmative team should brainstorm many ways they can solve the problem and then stick to the one
they think will be the easiest to implement, fund, enforce and defend. Once the affirmative team has
settled on a plan, they should think of as many attacks that may come against them as possible and seek
evidence that will help them to defend their case. The affirmative must create a prima facie case . . .an
airtight case. If they lose one of the stock issues, they lose the debate.
The NEGATIVE must brainstorm all the attacks that can possibly be brought against the resolution
and all the disadvantages of change. They must seek evidence that supports their position. The negative
team can win the debate if they win one stock issue.
Questions to ask:
 Topicality: Does the affirmative team address the resolution? (Are they “on topic”?)
 Solvency (Plan) and Inherency: Will their plan solve the problem they have described? Have they
fully considered all the potential barriers to their plan’s success?
 Significance: Is the harm the affirmative claims significant enough to merit the energy and funding
that will be necessary to make the change?
 Are there sources recent and relevant?
 Solvency (Benefit): Will the affirmative plan create more problems than it solves?
 Solvency (Plan): How will they fund their plan? Have they provided enough funds?
 History: Has their solution been tried before? Did it fail or succeed?
Imagine a ship floating on the ocean. One hole can sink it! One hole can
also sink the affirmative case . . . Can you find the hole? Can you prove it?
Research Model
Identify your issue or problem
- What is the issue/problem?
- Who are the stakeholders and what are their positions?
- What is YOUR position on the issue?
Read about your issue and identify points of view or arguments through information sources
- What are my print resources
- What are my media resources
- What are my people sources
- What are my preliminary findings based on a review of existing sources
Form a set of questions that can be answered by a specific data set: Examples
- What would be the results of _____
- Who would benefit and by how much?
- Who would be harmed and by how much?
Gather evidence through research techniques such as surveys, interviews, or analysis of primary and
secondary source documents.
- What survey questions should I ask?
- What interview questions should I ask?
- What generalizations do secondary sources give?
- What data and evidence can I find in primary sources to support different sides of the issue?