DECIDING ON THE WINNER

The Winner of a Debate goes to the side with the strongest argument(s) for their side of the topic.

First, consider the arguments AND the responses and draw a conclusion about the argument.

EXAMPLE: “The prop team showed water contamination is growing and that many cities lack the funding and oversight to assure water is properly treated and safe. The opp team responded that cities are empowered to have safe drinking water—but they did not show they have the money and help to make that happen. So, I concluded that water contamination is a real problem.”

Do this for each main argument/issue in the debate.

Second, consider the strongest arguments for both sides and using the arguments the debaters presented, explain why one side’s arguments were stronger.

EXAMPLE: “The prop showed water contamination and weighing that argument versus the opp team’s cost argument, I vote prop because the prop showed water contamination really threatens people’s lives and can have catastrophic economic consequences whereas the opp did not really explain nor impact the cost argument.”

Two Important Notes:

1. Don’t vote on arguments or responses you think of. Decide based on the arguments the students presented.

2. Impromptu topic in a middle school debate? Treat unsourced reasoning as strongly as facts, statistics, expert sourced arguments. The point of impromptu debating is to rely on sound reasoning OF THE STUDENTS—not experts and studies and statistics.