How to Give an Effective 2ar

1. Think About the Big Picture  Remember: focus on offense – defend your house  Isolate 1 or 2 Impacts  Decide on impacts based on negative strategy – know what level of your argument you must win to access your impacts  Know way you may frame the debate depending on 2nr strategy before the 1ar speaks  Don’t immediately start writing your speech when 2nr ends – conceptualize the debate  However, during the 2nr’s prep time, you can start writing your overview based on what you think they are going for

2. Strategy to Ordering Your Flows  Should have a strategy for ordering your flows for every speech  Keep in mind – 2ar tells a story…don’t let the judge write his or her own story  Don’t put your best argument or the neg’s best argument on the bottom when possible  Almost never want to put your entire case at the bottom  Almost never put the counterplan on the bottom

3. Overviews – Your overview  Sometimes a general overview, sometimes done on a specific argument  Overview should not be a preview of what we are to hear - Instead, use it to frame the debate/start impact comparisons  Should be less than a minute long, aim for seconds  Don’t use the exact same overview for every debate – however, keep them and re-use parts…you can even write parts ahead of time for different scenarios  Usually start with why you win it (recognizing negative’s best chance of winning)  NO UNDERVIEWS ALLOWED IN POLICY DEBATE

Responding to the 2nr Overview…  Don’t give your overview and then address everything in the 2nr overview - Your impact analysis should take in to account 2nr impact assessment - Only answer 2nr if arguments that you won’t answer in your overview or on the line

Scenario 1 - Overview The negative goes for the states CP and the federalism disad, with an Iraq instability/Middle East wars going nuclear impact. They also kick out of their topicality violation and spending tradeoff. There are 3 defensive on poverty and 3 defensive arguments on ethno-religious conflicts. Going in to your 2ar, you want to win that the counterplan does not solve the ethno-religious conflicts advantage and that outweighs. You also think it would help to win that federalism is not modeled. - What is the order of the flows in the 2ar? - Do you give a global overview or a specific overview? - How might you phrase your overview?

Scenario 2 - Overview  The negative kicked politics, went for spending tradeoff and defense against both of your advantages, poverty and ethno-religious conflicts. You believe the negative kicked out of politics incorrectly, and the impact is extinction because of nuclear war. - What is the order of the flows in the 2ar? - Do you give a global overview or a specific overview? - How might you phrase your overview?

Scenario 3 – Overview The negative went for ASPEC for 2 minutes and then went for politics and case defense against your 1 advantage, poverty. - What is the order of the flows in the 2ar? - Do you give a global overview or a specific overview? - How might you phrase your overview?

Scenario 4 - Overview  The negative goes for topicality – substantially means 20% for five minutes. - What is the order of the flows in the 2ar? - Do you give a global overview or a specific overview? - How might you phrase your overview?

4. Pick, Choose, and Use Detail  Don’t have to extend every 1ar argument  Be willing to devote significant time to an argument  Don’t forget about the line-by-line  Exploit the weakness of the negative strategy….

5. Take Advantage of 2nr Weaknesses EXAMPLES  DA - was the disad kicked out of incorrectly? - Did the 2nr spend too much time on the link and not enough on the uniqueness?  T/Theory - Frame based on dropped arguments or best arguments. Do a better job explaining your standards precede/outweigh/solve theirs *** The 2nr was NOT perfect – figure out the imperfections

6. Ask yourself “So What”  Do not just extend 1ar arguments/develop  Make sure judge knows why the argument matters – how it interacts with the rest of the debate

7. Comparison, and not just with debate jargon  Impact comparison – more than just time-frame, magnitude, and probability - Reasons why - Also think about questions of inevitability/who controls uniqueness, if case solves the neg’s impact, etc  Argument/Evidence Comparison * Evidence – reasons to prefer? Argument – How does yours trump the negatives? Argument – How does yours trump the negatives?  These types of comparisons do not happen enough

8. Prove you’re an Expert on Your Aff  Refer to evidence by cite (and argument) – know your authors  Explain warrants in your evidence, not just tag lines (tricks – write on side of evidence, have pre-written explanations you can edit) * Don’t forget to extend 1ar evidence

9. Delivery  Show confidence – before, during, and after the speech  Use emphasis * slow down on key ideas * use catch-phrases * connect with your judge  Start out especially strong – know your order, deliver the first 30 seconds perfectly, etc.

10. Role of the 1ar  1ar’s job is not done - get evidence in order - May need to help out by reading some evidence for the 2ar and help with comparison - Must flow! - Only interrupt partner if they are about to lose - Do not write out the majority of the speech for the 2ar * can help with small parts, but make sure you have taken time to make sure you understand the arguments/can read them

12. Tips Versus the CP When Going for Permutations When Going for Permutations - Make sure it is clear which perm you are going for - Repeat text and what it means - Explain why the permutation is better than the counterplan - Make sure you answer theory If you go for theory versus the counterplan If you go for theory versus the counterplan - make sure you do the link, internal link, and impact work - not enough to just respond to the neg, need to be sure you can win it When debating the solvency deficit When debating the solvency deficit - Make sure you are citing evidence, not just in generic terms – especially 1ac evidence

13. Tips Versus the Kritik  You must continue the debate about the alternative – think of like a counterplan - easiest way for aff to lose the k debate is concede that the alternative solves all the case - easiest way for aff to lose the k debate is concede that the alternative solves all the case Same tips for permutations apply Same tips for permutations apply Remember, you must have your story – don’t just extend 1ar arguments Remember, you must have your story – don’t just extend 1ar arguments

14. Tips Versus Topicality/Theory  Have a strategy! Have an overview!  Frame your arguments offensively - example: literature checks  Most likely will be a competing interpretations debate because you almost always want to extend a counter- interpretation in the 2ar: make sure you have arguments your interpretation is good and why theirs is bad  Compare impacts for standards – ex. what is more important, fair limits versus more negative ground?  Can argue against the 2nr’s framing of the debate being about competing interpretations

15. Tips for the Case Debate  Don’t have to go for all your advantages – pick based on 2nr strategy  If you are going for an advantage outweighs the neg, do not put it on the bottom  Cites = key!  Don’t get bogged down on bad arguments, but make sure you have an answer

Finals of the TOC – 2ar BSY BSY Did this 2ar follow all the guidelines? Now it is your turn to be in the finals of the TOC…. 2010!