Students hungry for debate knowledge need all the help they can get. Here’s a first look at some important debate resources that help established teams reach their goals and new teams teach themselves the ropes. We’ll be adding to this list as the site develops, and you can look through our whole list on our Keep a Team Going! page.
General Resources
Debate Central – a fabulous website for lots of purposes. Includes information on topics, research help, and lots of good advice about running a debate team. Don’t miss the Ask the Experts feature, which allows you to ask coaches about strategy and making your team work.
National Debate Coaches Association – the NDCA provides coaching and teaching resources that can help new teachers plan their debate curriculum or young students explore debate on their own. In addition to major news in the debate community, this site is the host of the Open Evidence Project, explained in detail below and the NDCA Caselist, where you can find citations for much of the evidence teams are using on this topic.
3NR – a collaborative blog with very interesting debate discussions and articles.
Research
The Open Evidence Project – this site represents a fundamental change in the way that evidence is shared that significantly lowers the barriers to young teams that want to compete in policy debate. Here, many summer camps provide all the evidence produced – thousands of pages – totally free and available for download.
League Information
NAUDL – the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues supports debate teams in urban schools all over the country.
National Federation of State High School Associations– The NFHS is responsible for determining the policy debate topic for the year and publishes other resources that help coaches and students, including novice case areas, which are adopted by some states (including Oregon).
National Forensics League – the “other NFL” hosts a national tournament at the end of the year. Find here league and coach information, and a monthly publication, Rostrum, with articles about Forensics competition and coaching.
Tournament registration websites – between forensicstournament.net and Debate Results you should be able to find invitation and registration information for most policy tournaments in the area.
Summer Camp
Summer debate camps have been an institution of high school debate for decades. Students that attend camp usually become leaders and teachers on their high school teams, as debate is such a fast-changing game. Here’s West Coast Publishing’s list of summer debate camps.
Not sure what summer camp is all about? Don’t know which one is right for you? Contact us and we’ll answer all your questions.
Debate Forums
Cross-x.com – the main site for discussions on high school CX debate.