Training Material: Parliamentary Debate

With the 2022-23 season the CDA moved to a parliamentary debate format. This change:

  • connects us with an international debate community;
  • makes abundant training material available to debaters, coaches and judges;
  • allows us to add a fourth preliminary round in the same amount of time; and
  • is consistent with the format used by debaters coming up the the Connecticut Middle School Debate League.

The particular parliamentary format follows the American Parliamentary Debate Association, the primary college league.

Two documents provide an overview:

  • A one-page description of the format and changes, CDA Parli Brief.
  • A style guide which presents CDA parliamentary debate in detail for debaters, coaches and judges, CDA Parli Style Guide

This training material page contains material revised to reflect that change. A link to the old training material for the policy cross-ex format can be found at the end of this document.

Contents


Official Documents

The CDA Parli Handbook introduces the CDA, describes the format of our tournaments, explains extemporaneous debate and the basics of judging, and sets various CDA policies for eligibility and conduct.

A number of additional useful items:

Introductory Material for Debaters

We have two basic pieces for new debaters. The first discusses things a student can do to Prepare for Debate with attention to background knowledge, speaking and listening. The second explains What Happens During a Debate. It provides an overview, describes each speech, and discusses cross-ex, prep time and teamwork between partners.

There are two templates which beginning debaters may find useful to help manage their time and organize their cases during the prepartion period. The first template has a suggested "schedule" for using the hour of preparation time and room for definitions for the resolution. (Definitions Template.) The second template has a structure contentions and arguments. (Contention Template.) See the Coach's Notes for November 2008 and December 2009 below for more information on how to use these templates.

And don't forget about debate during your vacation! What I Would Do on My Summer Vacation offers some suggestions.

Introductory Material for Coaches

We have two items for coaches. The first is for New Coaches and gives them some idea what to expect. The second provides some suggestions for prepping new debaters and for ongoing team meetings: Training Tips.

Judges' Workshop

Prior to each tournament during the debaters' prep time, we hold a workshop for new and less experienced judges. In addition to the Judges Handout, we also have an edited Workshop Transcript of one of those workshops. This can be given to new judges to help orient them prior to the tournament. Debaters may also want to read this to gain insight into how judges are taught to review debates.

Parli Debate Textbooks

The International Debate Education Association has published a number of texts on speech, debate, rhetoric, logic and related topics. May of these are available for free download as pdf files, though they can also be purchased in soft- or hardcover. The texts may be found by selecting Publications on the Resources drop down menu.

Three parliamentary debate textbooks are of particular interest, and all three may be downloaded free in pdf form:

  • On That Point: An Introduction to Parliamentary Debate, by John Meany and Kate Shuster. Meany and Shuster are with the Claremont Colleges and sponsor the High School Public Debate Program. The book uses the same 2-on-2 debate format but slightly different speech timings and nomenclature than CDA.
  • Art, Argument and Advocacy: Mastering Parliamentary Debate, by John Meany and Kate Shuster. Similar to the above, but a bit more advanced. The speech timings and nomenclature is the same as that used by CDA.
  • Debating in the World Schools Style: A Guide, by Simon Quinn. Quinn was a champion debater from Australia at the turn of the millenia, and this is one of the best debate texts available. This text uses the World Schools format, which is 3-on-3 debating and different speech timings, but the material on argumentation, case prep, etc., is universal.

League Websites

One advantage of sharing a debate format is taking advantage of training material prepared by others. The following debate leagues use a parliamentary format, and have material that may be of interest.

  • New York Parliamentary Debate League (NYPDL) resources page ( NYPDL Resources) is probably the best introduction to this form of debate for high school students. They also have a YouTube channel with recordings of past debates.
  • National Parliamentary Debate League (NPDL, NPDL website ) has a database of motions used at parli tournaments across the country as well as a collection of round recordings, both of which may be found through their Resources entry. (Note: some of these recordings show debates that may not conform to CDA practice regarding speaking or argument style.)
  • American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) Novice Mentor Guides (Novice Mentor) are written for college debaters but provide advanced insight into many issues.

Online Debate

CDA has always been an in-person debate league. Due to COVID, we spent two years perfecting procedures for online debate. We will still use online debate as a backup in the case of bad weather, or if circumstances otherwise prevent in-person debate. For details see the CDA Online Procedures Guide. You should review this material with all of your debaters and judges prior to any online tournament. Note other leagues hold online tournaments, and you may find our material useful in preparing for any online events you choose to attend.

CDA History: Past Resolutions, Packets, Flows and Notes

We have a file of the Past CDA Resolutions that you may find useful for setting practice debates. This file goes back to 1995, though it is incomplete in the earliest years. For the past several years, we also have the full packet given to debaters prior to each tournament in computer-readable form. For some of these we have a flow of the final round and an edition of A Coach's Notes commentary. You can browse past years' material by selecting from the list below.


Archived Policy Cross-Ex Training Material

CDA moved to Parliamentary debate format for the 2022-23 season. The material above reflects that change. Those interested in the older material which reflected a policy cross-examination debate format may find it here: CDA Policy Cross-Ex Training Material Page