Rachel Mauchline

Durham Academy, Assistant Director of Speech and Debate

Previously the Director of Forensics and Debate for Cabot

she/her pronouns

TL;DR

Put me on the email chain @ rachelmauchline@gmail.com

speed is fine (but online lag is a thing)

tech over truth

Policy

I typically get preferred for more policy-oriented debate. I gravitated to more plan focused affirmatives and t/cp/da debate. I would consider myself overall to be a more technically driven and line by line organized debater. My ideal round would be a policy affirmative with a plan text and three-seven off. Take that as you wish though.

Lincoln Douglas

I've judged a variety of traditional and progressive debates. I prefer more progressive debate. But you do you... I am happy to judge anything as long as you defend the position well. Refer to my specific preferences below about progressive arguments. In regards to traditional debates, it's important to clearly articulate framework.

Public Forum

weighing.... weighing.... weighing.

I like rebuttals to have clear line by line with numbered responses. 2nd rebuttal should frontline responses in rebuttal. Summary should extend terminal defense and offense OR really anything that you want in final focus. Final focus should have substantial weighing and a clear way for me to write my ballot. It's important to have legitimate evidence... don't completely skew the evidence.

Here are my specific preferences on specific arguments if you have more than 5 mins to read this paradigm...

Topicality

I enjoy a well-articulated t debate. In fact, a good t debate is my favorite type of debate to judge. Both sides need to have a clear interpretation. Make sure it’s clearly impacted out. Be clear to how you want me to evaluate and consider arguments like the tva, switch side debate, procedural fairness, limits, etc.

Disadvantages/Counterplans

This was my fav strat in high school. I’m a big fan of case-specific disadvantages but also absolutely love judging politics debates- be sure to have up to date uniqueness evidence in these debates though. It’s critical that the disad have some form of weighing by either the affirmative or negative in the context of the affirmative. Counterplans need to be functionally or textually competitive and also should have a net benefit. Slow down for CP texts and permutations- y’all be racing thru six technical perms in 10 seconds. Affirmative teams need to utilize the permutation more in order to test the competition of the counterplan. I don’t have any bias against any specific type of counterplans like consult or delay, but also I’m just waiting for that theory debate to happen.

Case

I believe that case debate is under-covered in many debates by both teams. I love watching a case debate with turns and defense instead of the aff being untouched for the entire debate until last ditch move by the 2AR. The affirmative needs to continue to weigh the aff against the negative strat. Don't assume the 1AC will be carried across for you throughout the round. You need to be doing that work on the o/v and the line by line. It confuses me when the negative strat is a CP and then there are no arguments on the case; that guarantees aff 100% chance of solvency which makes the negative take the path of most resistance to prove the CP solves best.

Kritiks

I’ll vote for the k. From my observations, I think teams end up just reading their prewritten blocks instead of directly engaging with the k specific to the affirmative. Be sure you understand what you are reading and not just read a backfile or an argument that you don’t understand. The negative needs to be sure to explain what the alt actually is and more importantly how the alt engages with the affirmative. I judge more K rounds than I expect to, but if you are reading a specific author that isn’t super well known in the community, but sure to do a little more work on the analysis

Theory

I’ll vote for whatever theory; I don’t usually intervene much in theory debates but I do think it’s important to flesh out clear impacts instead of reading short blips in order to get a ballot. Saying “pics bad” and then moving on without any articulation of in round/post fiat impacts isn’t going to give you much leverage on the impact level. You can c/a a lot of the analysis above on T to this section. It’s important that you have a clear interp/counter interp- that you meet- on a theory debate.

Lydia Veazey

She/her

veazelydia24@cps.k12.ar.us

tech over truth

speaking- I prefer clear and persuasive speaking rather than spreading.

I do not tolerate bigotry.

How to win my ballot

explain your links and impacts of all arguments.

be well organize.

tell me how I should write my ballot, and why.

you can do evidence comparison as necessary.

IPDA-

Having clash with your opponent is always best during the round.

Make sure your arguments are clear and well understood.

When in the round use up all of your time.

Do not bring up new arguments during your last rebuttals.

During the question period give “to the point” answers. Don't ramble on. It is a waste of time.

A good tip is to really hit on your impacts all during the round.

flow all throughout the round.

Congress

Know your speech.

Answer question without rambling.

Quantity over Quantity

Speak clearly and use up all time.

Have confidence

Have fun with debate!

General:

The key to a debate is to listen, never leave something out. When you listen to your opponent, so much can come to mind. ALWAYS weigh the arguments. I dont believe a debate should be seen as why the problem in the world is bad or good, however a debate should be about how we should either fix or not intervene on something.

Behavior:

We as a society should mantain a large amount of respect for everyone, I hope to not witness any behavior that is racist, transphobic, ableist, or violent-

-Be prepared.

-DO NOT confront agruments and rehash them.

-I value credible evidence. Statistics quotes, sources.

-On one sided debates be prepared to speak on the other side. Be different and provide a different side of things.

IDPA:

-include sources. this helps me understand that you used your thirty minutes to truly understand the your topic.

- Try and have a rebuttal.

-During the second speeches remember to always try and state your oponents points. DONT ARGUE but hash out and make me understand why youre right.

-During questioning period try and make it great

(USE ALL YOUR TIME)

Extemp:

-I truly enjoy good introductions.

-Always try and grab my attention with interesting facts and a backstory.

-Again, I value evidence and sources. Always having credible sources can backup your argument.

- Have a great structure. This is basically impromptu, remember what you are doing.