Von+Burg,+Ron

Ron Von Burg Wake Forest University Former debater at Arizona State University and coach at the University of Pittsburgh

General Observations: I believe that the most important thing in a debate round is that all the participants involved feel comfortable and enjoy themselves. As for the debate arguments themselves, the most important thing for me is the comparison of arguments by the end of the debate. My preference would be for debaters, by the last two rebuttals, to collapse down to few arguments that interrelate and convey a coherent story as to why I should vote for a particular team. Too often, this big picture approach is lost in the line by line debating. I prefer debaters to adhere to an “even if” construction as they collapse to fewer arguments. Making comparisons and weighing arguments is very important to getting my vote. However, before I can even evaluate the arguments, I must be able to understand them. Therefore, it is imperative for debaters to be comprehensible. Please make distinctions between arguments. Moving on to different arguments by just saying “and” does little to improve my flowing abilities. As an aside, I have never been very good at flowing cites. Rather, I attempt to flow the content of the card or argument. Therefore, when extending arguments, please reference the arguments as well as the source.

Theory/Topicality: I am probably pretty liberal as to what the negative can do. However, I am persuaded by arguments for reciprocity. As for topicality, I believe it is a ground issue. As a result, it is important to impact topicality. Please explain what argumentative ground is gained/ lost under a particular interpretation and why that ground is important/superfluous.

Evidence: Evidence is good. Read it, and most importantly compare it. When comparing evidence, explain to me why it’s important and what I should be looking for in the card. Therefore, when reading the evidence, my interpretation will be more likely to resemble yours. Also, I think the quality of the evidence far exceeds quantity.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Good Luck.