Judging Debate FAQ

Judging Debate

We would love to have every judge participate in electronic-balloting. This speeds up a tournament substantially. We want to take a minute to thank you for reading this quick guide to judging a debate. Please try bring an electronic device capable of accessing the internet to the tournament. Laptops and tablets are preferred, smartphones are also capable but not recommended if you have a laptop/tablet. A device with a keyboard will be best for providing written feedback at the end of the round. If you don't have a device, we have iPads available for loan in the library. We ask that you exchange your driver's licence for the iPad so that we don't lose them!

Wi-Fi will be available--use the link on the right to find the Wi-Fi Information. You must also be able to log into your tabroom.com account in order to complete the ballot. Please try to take a moment now to make sure you can log in. Your username will be your email address. If you forgot your password, please reset it, as that will help keep us all organized. There is an extensive e-balloting guide posted - see the e-balloting process link to the right of the screen.

In debate events, the students may ask you for your ‘judging paradigm.’ What they want to know is how you will judge the round and/or your familiarity and experience with academic debate. A good paradigm is to be honest with the students regarding how often you judge debates, and what your role in the community is (parent / coach / teacher / volunteer). Students are taught to adjust their performance to their audience.

Debaters will often time themselves. Cell phones may be used as timers. Computers are allowed in all debate rounds except Parliamentary debate.

For ALL debates, your personal opinion/knowledge should not be a part of your decision. The students do not decide what to debate or what side they are on. The computer assigns their side each round, and debaters are prepared to defend both sides of a given topic. The winner is the team/debater who defended their side the best.

In preliminary rounds, you are encouraged, but not required to disclose your decision to the competitors after submitting the ballot online. A brief post-round discussion helps debaters improve, but if you don’t wish to do so, please provide written feedback. All judges should provide a minimum amount of written feedback for each round judged. You can also go back and update written feedback for rounds already judged until the end of the tournament.

In Elimination rounds, there will be 3 judges. Each make an independent decision without conferring with anyone else.

Elimination rounds are required to disclose the panel decision. After all 3 judges enter a decision, any judge can refresh their screen and see the decision. This should be announced to the debaters. There should be a brief discussion in which each judge should indicate which side they voted for and the reasons that motivated their decision. If there is an award, it goes to the non-advancing team as the advancing team will debate again.

Parliamentary Debate (Parli)

2 on 2 debate- resolutions are DIFFERENT for every round.

Topic will announced before each round

Each side should talk about the other one’s arguments

There is NO cross examination, There is NO prep time

Make sure that the right debaters are debating. Check the names to ensure you are watching the right debaters!

Public Forum (PF)

Public forum debate can be compared to a nationally-televised debate, such as 'Crossfire' in which the debaters argue a topic of national importance, typically one involving foreign or domestic policy as opposed to Lincoln-Douglas' more philosophy centric debate, in terms that a "common" person would understand.

Make sure that the right debaters are debating. Check the names to ensure you are watching the right debaters!

Lincoln Douglas Debate (LD)

1 on 1 value debate

The Affirmative upholds the resolution,

the Negative proves them wrong.

Make sure that the right debaters are debating. Check the names to ensure you are watching the right debaters!