LD Debate Basics

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Introduction

■ Lincoln-Douglas Debate

■ Individual debate

■ Also called ‘value debate’

■ Individuals debate a resolution that focuses on a

moral or ethical truth statement

■ Affirmative attempts to prove the statement true.

■ Negative attempts to show that the statement is false

or show that the affirmative did not prove it true.

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Introduction

■ Origins of Lincoln-Douglas Debate

■ Reaction to CX debate

■ Many began to think that CX was too fast and unrealistic.

■ Modeled after the debates between Lincoln and Douglas for

the Illinois senate.

■ Instead of focusing on a plan, LD debate focuses on values

and issues of morality.

■ LD introduced the value and criterion structure which serves

as the way to evaluate the round. This structure allows the
judge to pick a winner based on which side achieves certain
moral principles.

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Introduction

■ Burdens for each side

■ There are no ‘official’ burdens in debate, but there are some

commonly accepted burdens in most regions.

■ The affirmative is typically thought to have the burden of

proof. This is usually interpreted to mean that the affirmative
must prove the resolution true in its entirety.

■ The negative is typically thought to have the burden of clash.

This usually means they have the burden to show that the
affirmative’s reasoning is flawed and/or that the resolution is
false.

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Time Format

■ Affirmative Constructive (AC)- 6 min.

■ Negative Cross Examination (CX)- 3 min.

■ Negative Prep-time- up to 4 min

■ Negative Constructive (NC)- 7 min.

■ Affirmative Cross Examination (CX)- 3 min

■ Affirmative Prep-time- up to 4 min

■ First Affirmative Rebuttal (1AR)- 4 min

■ Negative Prep-time- remainder of the 4 min

■ Negative Rebuttal (NR)- 6 min

■ Affirmative prep-time- remainder of the 4 min

■ Second Affirmative Rebuttal- 3 min
** Prep time can be used at anytime during the round and the

amount of prep time varies from area to area.

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