This page is designed to give you the tools you need to succeed in LD debate. More than any other part of this website, I’m intending for you to follow these materials step-by-step. It is designed as a comprehensive course to help you along your journey. You should start with the first link and then work your way down.

Debate isn’t something you can learn just by reading, so this should be supplemented by drills and practice. Where appropriate, I will describe exercises that you can do on your own and I will do my best to give the information you will need to assess your own performance. If I ask you to write something down or give a speech, you should actually do it: the only way to really know if you’re learning is to force yourself to work it out in your own words.

In order to get the most out of this curriculum, you should do the following:

Make yourself a personal glossary of debate vocabulary and try to keep track of any word that you don’t know already. Write the definitions down. If I don’t define it in the text, check the glossary. If it’s not there, ask me what it means. Don’t google it. Googling debate terms almost never works.
When you try and give speeches, record them and listen to them back. It will be painful at first—nobody really likes to hear recordings of their own voice—but it is the best way to check yourself and make sure you’re doing it right.

First Steps

What is LD?

The Speeches

Basic Structure of an Argument

Parts of a Case

Speaking

Learn to Flow

How to Respond to Arguments