Last changed on
Wed February 7, 2024 at 1:59 PM EDT
My Email: isaacappelbaum404@gmail.com
Origin Story:
Hi! I'm Isaac. I am a rising junior at George Washington University in D.C. and I competed in Congressional Debate for four years as a student at Pennsbury High School in Pennsylvania. I competed extensively on the national circuit, obtaining 11 bids to the TOC and I was lucky enough to place/final at tournaments like Harvard, Princeton, Sunvite, Blue Key, Barkley Forum (Emory), Durham, UPenn, and Villiger.
Now that I've given some of my background as a competitor I can discuss what that means in terms of what I like to see as a judge. In my opinion, this can best be summarized like this;
Congress:
stick to 2 points
don't speak too fast
try to get to 2:50-3 minutes
arguments flow in linear way and flow broad to narrow with a terminalized impact (human beings should be your impact)
use refutation after 1st cycle
I like well 2 well developed arguments over 3 poorly constructed ones
Stick to legislation what does the legislation do
LD:
Don't spread
cite good sources
present links clearly
PF:
Don’t spread (speak so quickly I can’t understand you)
use good sources (try not to use news articles, stick to research)
arguments flow in linear fashion (I should be able to see where you go from point A to point B to point C)
give me a human reason to vote for your side (this means establish the human impact why the issue directly impacts a human person)
no theory please (stick to arguing the facts, data, and information of the issues at hand in the motion)
Please sign post arguments (tell me that you are about to make a big point before you do)! I need this for flowing purposes