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Week 1 Advanced Training. How to improve as a debater. Resources. Debate videos http://debatevideoblog.blogspot.com.au/ www.youtube.com http://www.monashdebaters.com/ videos.php Written resources Monash Debating Review Books Slate/The Economist/Foreign Affairs/The Atlantic Podcasts
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Week 1 Advanced Training How to improve as a debater
Resources • Debate videos • http://debatevideoblog.blogspot.com.au/ • www.youtube.com • http://www.monashdebaters.com/videos.php • Written resources • Monash Debating Review • Books • Slate/The Economist/Foreign Affairs/The Atlantic • Podcasts • Slate Political/Culture/DoubleX Gabfest
Active Improvement • Feedback • Get it and use it. • Topics • Look for topics online. • Manner • Practice Speeches, record yourself. • Microstructure • Why important?
Leading your team • Leading a team at Easters • Focusing prep time • Being in control but not too dominant • Getting the most out of your teammates • Talking (helpfully) at the bench • Knowing how much they need to have written down to present an argument well • Pushing them to improve
Pre-empting where debates will go • Identify broad principled clash. • E.g. Free Market v Externalities, Free Will vsRecognised social harms. • But note: Make specific to the debate in question. • E.g. That we should ban corporate political donations • What are the key arguments? • E.g. debate about invading Syria? • E.g. debate about banning cosmetic surgeries? • Are there any things that need to be modelled out/in? • E.g. debate about paid surrogacy? • E.g. ‘TWS allow countries to pay other countries to settle asylum seekers who reach their borders’
Being strategic in debates • Knowing which issues will win debates • Principle vs. practical clash • How to use second speaker arguments • How to use burdens well • Set them reasonably for yourself • Call other teams for unfairly forcing them on you • E.g. if the other team argues that your model should work in almost every case
Cont. • Keeping control of the vocabulary of debates • Rhetoric encompasses the words you use to describe your policy and model • E.g. in a debate about euthanasia, are you “killing people”, “allowing them to kill themselves”, “permitting suicide”, “supporting access to euthanasia”, “ending prolonged suffering • Keep argument labelling simple and effective • Shouldn’t be too long/verbose but should encapsulate the fundamental point • Generally phrase positively
Some sample debates • That judges should be elected • That feminism has failed women who are members of racial minorities • That parents should not be able to refuse medical treatment for their children • TWS ban peaceful protests outside abortion clinics