International Debate Education Association

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International Debate Education Association
Dos and Donts of Critiquing Debate Rounds Kevin
Minch
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What do you think your most important duty is
when adjudicating a debate?
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Evaluating Facts and Checking Opinions
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Thinking About Arguments

• Dealing with our personal biases can sometimes be
  difficult.
• Experience shapes our sense of reality.
• The power of facts is shaped by the information
  we have been presented with before.
• To judge fairly, an adjudicator needs to do their
  best to set aside their biases when they enter
  the debate. They need to attempt to give
  arguments a fair hearing.

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Dealing with Questionable Information

• Listening to an argument objectively does not
  mean the judge must change their personal views.
• The ballot / oral critique is the adjudicators
  tool for communicating reservations about
  arguments.
• Inform the student in your comments that you
  believe their information to be incorrect.
• Offer constructive suggestions for how they could
  make their argument better, or their information
  more accurate.
• But, confine the basis of your decision to the
  question Who did the better debating?

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Good Rules to Live By

• How an opposing team responds to poor arguments
  may be as important to the debate as the poor
  arguments themselves.
• Listening critically to an argumentwhether you
  agree with it or notdoes not constitute
  acceptance of that argument as true.
• Your most important role as an adjudicator is to
  help students learn to make better arguments by
  learning what succeeds and fails in a debate.

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Negative Adjudication Habits
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Negative Habits During the Debate

• Avoid behaviors that suggest to the debaters that
  you are disinterested.
• Avoid showing overt preference for one side in
  the debate, or a particular argument, while the
  debate is in progress.
• Avoid forming opinions about the debate, and the
  arguments therein, until the debate is concluded.

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Negative Habits After the Debate

• Avoid heavy-handed language that belittles
  debaters for their mistakes.
• Avoid letting your personal biases overwhelm the
  decision in the debate.

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Good Adjudication Habits
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Good Habits During the Debate

• Listen as attentively as possible to the
  arguments.
• Take as many notes as you can.
• Keep track of key arguments in the debate.
• Make note of constructive criticism you can
  provide after the debate.
• Provide positive non-verbal reinforcement during
  the debate (smile, make eye contact when
  possible).

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Good Habits After The Debate

• Offer both positive feedback and constructive
  criticism. Tell debaters what they did well, but
  also tell them what they can do to improve.
• Convey your critique in a positive tone. Help
  the debaters feel good about what they have
  learned, even if they lost the debate.
• Help the debaters to understand what they can do
  to be better at what they do.
• Remember that even the winning debaters have
  things they can do to improve!

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Contact Information

• E-Mail kminch_at_truman.edu or kevin.minch_at_gmail.com
  
• Mail c/o Truman State University, 100 E.
  Normal, Kirksville, Missouri 63501 USA
• Facebook (Truman State University Network)