The Debate Flowchart
What is a flow? The debate flow is an organization of notes that keeps track of and help development of all of the arguments made in a debate. A good flow will: Provide an organized presentation Help to develop the speeches Enable clash Show the development of arguments Help a team/debater win Help a judge know who wins Provide a record of the debate Silence is Consent
SOME RULES FOR FLOWING One argument per page Two colors—one for aff, one for neg One column for each speech Lots of room/space Shorthand symbols Substance of an argument, not word for word Flow every argument in round
Create a list of common abbreviations
Abbreviations Common debate words Topic words Strategies
How to abbreviate PARAPHRASE Rather than “Nuclear Energy is fast becoming the most affordable form of energy available.” NE = $ Use symbols $ + = Leave out vowels Nclr, dngr, impx, gvnrnmnt, chldrn Leave out words that don’t bring meaning (articles, prepositions) A, an, the, of, for, to
Other tips.. Supplement with other useful info Use Cross-ex and prep time to clean up your flow FLOW YOUR ARGUMENTS**This is how you’ll do all the speeches after the 1AC. Pre-flow
Practice Read case Take notes on news Take notes of lecture Card game Take notes of a conversation Watch/flow national rounds at nationalforensicleague.org