Topp,+Sarah

Sarah Topp – Trinity University Judge Philosophy – 2012-2013

I have been judging debate since 2001. Over that time I have seen a lot of debates and voted for many different types of arguments. I, of course, like some arguments and styles more than others, but I think most things are debatable. In the list below are general tendencies or thoughts I have that may help you win my ballot.

What is Debate: If no one offers a counter-metaphor or ideology of the debate space, I tend to think of it as a competitive and educational space in which 2 teams argue about the relative advantages and disadvantages of a position. I genuinely value learning new topics every year, so I enjoy debates that increase my knowledge of the year’s topic. However, because this is an activity to which I have dedicated my life and I think introspection is important, I can also find value in debating about debate. Since these two can oftentimes be in direct competition with one another, I do my best to evaluate the relative loss or gain of fairness and education in any given round. I think in general I am more persuaded by arguments about what gives us the best portable skills to be better people outside of debate than I am about debate being a game. (Although you could persuade me that debate should be viewed as a game…).

Arguments and evidence: An argument consists of a claim, some data and a warrant. Incomplete arguments and unsupported claims won’t get you very far. *Good* evidence matters. One piece of great evidence can beat 5 pieces of shoddily highlighted evidence easily. Analytical arguments, especially those illustrating problems in internal link chains and indicting authors and sources, will get you far.

Specific Argument stuff: Topicality – Affs generally need evidence/a counter-interpretation. It doesn’t make sense to go for reasonability without an interp because there is no way to prove you are reasonably topical without it.

Counterplans – Negs tend to be in a tough spot reading CPs that try to solve the aff better than the aff. They’re not unwinnable, but it’s an uphill battle. It is possible to win conditionality bad in front of me, but difficult to win pics bad or no neg fiat. Delay, states, consult, condition, and other “cheater” types are really debatable.

Kritiks – I tend to think most framework debates are nonstarters. This is not because framework is actually irrelevant but because people tend to do such a bad job contextualizing it in the round and often fail to make a comprehensible and reasonable impact claim. It is difficult to win method doesn’t matter.

Case debate – Yes please! Neg can win no risk of aff. Neg can also win aff solves so little that a small DA outweighs.

In round stuff: Saving speech docs is a part of your prep time. The timer will keep running until you have saved your document. You need to mark cards as you read. This seems so obvious, but it is not sufficient to just say “Stopping at [insert word here].” You actually need to change the speech doc to signify where you are stopping. Please clean up after yourself. The workers on campus or in the hotels in which we debate aren’t paid enough to pick up all of the trash and mess we leave behind.

If you have any questions. Please ask.