Shao,+Victor

Victor Shao

Background: I am currently a senior at Northwestern University. I debated at Glenbrook North HS (2006-2009) for 3 years and at Northwestern (2010-2011) for a year.

Note: I have not done research on this year's topic so make sure to explain uncommon acronyms, etc.

Philosophy: On the whole, I don't have strong predispositions for or against certain styles of arguments. If you can articulate your argument well and present a compelling reason (and a better reason than your opponent) for me to vote for you, then I will.

What I do care about is quality argumentation. Specifically, these factors will go a long way toward helping me decide a debate:

1) Fully developed arguments: this means a claim and warrant. Beyond these two components, a successful debater must be able to articulate why such an argument is important and how I should evaluate it.

2) Comparative analysis: the best debates involve developing arguments that clash with the other team's. Oftentimes, the most difficult debates to judge are ones where debaters leave it up to the judge to evaluate how an argument interacts with another one. Being able to compare your arguments to your opponent's arguments and explaining why yours is better (via comparative impact calculus, evidence comparison, etc.) goes a long way toward helping me resolve the nexus questions of the debate.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.