Zagorski,+Susan

Susan Zagorski Ursuline Academy of Dallas Taught speech for 3 years/judged debate for 4 years. Updated pre-2014 Texas State Tournament

Overview:

I am a traditional LD judge who prefers for debaters to argue the resolution. I prefer for debaters to speak at a moderate speed and to present the evidence effectively and persuasively, meaning speakers should slow down for card names and authors and for complex analysis. If I cannot understand the author of your card or dense analytics without a card, I will not flow the argument.

I evaluate the round starting with the framework and often I will decide the round there. However, it is the job of the debaters in the round to give me weighing mechanisms on framework when they are in conflict, otherwise, the other offense you generate throughout your case may lose its effectiveness. Thus I generally reward speakers who impact, clearly signpost, and crystalize in all of their speeches because I find these enhance an argument. If there is no resolution at the contention level, or if the frameworks are similar in nature, I will evaluate the round based on impacts, turns, etc. at the contention level.

Policy Arguments (Ks, T shells, Topicality, etc.):

Do not run these in my round. They distract from the topic, are often abusive and unfair to the other debater, and detract from your effectiveness because they have you following a formula. If your opponent runs something that is flagrantly abusive, you may call him or her out on it, but do not run a T-shell and explain the abuse. I will only listen to these arguments if there is clearly abuse in the round, calling abuse for the sake of running a tricky argument is bad form and abusive itself.

Other Arguments:

Observations: If an observation is needed to explain ground in the round, but is not framing said ground in an abusive matter, feel free to run one if it helps your case. However, spikes, a prioris, and other similarly functioning arguments that are often disguised as observations should not be run in my round.