TeamNovember 2, 2026
by R. Eric Barnes, Paul Kehle, Chuan-Zheng Lee & Hugh N. McKenny Tapered scoring creates more accurate breaks than traditional scoring in British Parliamentary (BP) debate tournaments. This paper further examines how BP scoring systems work and addresses some concerns that have been raised about tapered scoring. We begin by deploying some intuitive metrics that…
Read MoreMarch 18, 2026
by R. Eric Barnes, Paul Kehle, Nick McKenny and Chuan-Zheng Lee • HWS Ideally, preliminary rounds at tournaments sort teams so that the best teams break into elimination rounds. At the World Championships of debate, the scoring system during the nine preliminary rounds does a poor job of sorting teams accurately. Adding additional rounds would…
Read MoreNovember 29, 2025
by Gareth Lim Debating has meant many things to me over the years. My journey as a debater has had many ups and downs, but despite the countless weekends I have lost, I have never once regretted being a debater, because to deny debating would be to deny the very person that I am today.
Read MoreNovember 15, 2025
by Nikitah Gaju The communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills debate teaches are valuable to young people who are at the forefront of development. By opening doors to more training and competition grounds for Rwandan debaters, we hope to foster the talents needed to drive progress in Rwanda.
Read MoreOctober 11, 2025
by Team India 2019 Debate can change lives. And for us, the five members of Team India 2019, it did. In that sense, most of us would agree that it is important both to expand the number of people who have access to debating and ensure that those who join debating do not experience exclusion.
Read MoreAugust 17, 2025
by R. Eric Barnes & Christopher Doak Our focus in this paper is on these questions: 1) How reliable are judges’ assignment of team points? 2) How reliable are judges’ assignment of speaker points? and, 3) How reliable are judges’ initial calls about a debate, before the deliberation begins?
Read MoreOctober 19, 2023
by Cindi Timmons While debating teams from six continents have been represented, the increasing variety of participants from non-Western nations and the growing diversity of the debaters themselves means that it is time for the global debating community to examine how inclusive it is and to evaluate its cultural competence as an organization. This paper…
Read MoreOctober 19, 2023
by Lucas Li Figuring out how to win against three other teams – including one on your own bench – rather than one opponent is already hard enough for speakers. What more adjudicators who now have to evaluate a high degree of strategic interaction in addition to the substantive exchange! This paper seeks to address…
Read MoreOctober 19, 2023
by Simona Mazilu Teaching debate to both students and teachers, and training debate trainers was to become an essential part of my life, adding new and challenging dimensions to my career as an educator. This article offers insights into debating from the standpoint of an experienced educator, trainer and coach who works in both the…
Read MoreOctober 19, 2023
by Laura Alviž The article revolves around the issue of native speaker bias that most members of the debating community experience during their debating career, and proposes potential solutions for this problem and reaches the conclusion that a combination of several mechanisms may be able to mitigate the effects of the native speaker bias.
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