The Stock Issues of Debate

1
The Stock Issues of Debate

• 5 Things Every Debater Needs, and Needs to Know!

2
What are Stock Issues?

• Stock issues are 5 basic categories of
  information that must be provided in every debate
  round.

3
Inherency

• The thing that is preventing the Status quo from
  changing.

• Structural Barrier A law or rule that prevents
  a change.
• Attitudinal Barrier Attitudes of people are
  preventing a change.

4

• Harms are the bad things that the status quo
  does, and what the affirmative plans to solve.

Remember, The affirmative must solve for all of
the harms they list!
5
Plan

• The plan is the affirmatives ideas to solve the
  harms listed earlier in their case.

The Plan also has several steps that the
affirmative must consider.

1. Mandates
2. Funding
3. Enforcement

6
Solvency
Solvency is the place in which the affirmative
proves that their plan will solve for the harms
they talked about earlier.
Remember ! You must solve for all of your harms.
7
Topicality
Topicality is an argument made by the negative
team that says the affirmative is not debating
the resolution.
To develop a topicality argument the negative
must show how the affirmative is non-topical (not
debating the current topic).
8
Parts of Topicality
1. Definition-
Define the word(s) that they are violating.
2. Violation-
Explain how the negatives case does not meet
that definition.
3. Standards-
Ways in which definitions can be used to check
for topicality.
4. Voting-
Explain why the judge should vote on topicality.
9
Web Sites of Interest
Debate Central
Cross-x.com
Debate Links