Intermediate Debate Skills

Flowing - Intermediate

Introduction

Intermediate debaters will hear many more arguments in a round which all need to be addressed. To effectively organize major arguments, each one will be flowed on its own sheet of paper; this means each advantage, disadvantage, and counterplan will have a dedicated flow sheet. In a round where the 1AC reads two advantages, for example, debaters would flow each advantage on its own piece of paper, starting over numbering when starting the second advantage. The same would apply if the 1NC read two disadvantages. Arguments responding to a specific advantage/disadvantage will go on their respective flow sheet.

In addition to flowing on multiple sheets of paper, intermediate debaters must learn to organize the individual arguments and responses in a round, which we call the line-by-line. While speaking, debaters should refer to the specific argument they are responding to (Ex. “Off 1NC 1…” or “They said the plan hurts the manufacturing sector, but…”). When flowing, debaters should line responses up next to the original argument so that they can easily see what has been dropped versus what has been answered.

Debaters should leave space at the top of each flow sheet to flow overviews, which tell the judge what the most important issues in the round are and don’t correspond to specific line-by-line arguments. There will not be an overview to flow in each speech, but leaving the same amount of space at the top helps keep the flow neat for the line-by-line.

Learning Objectives

In this section, students should:

  • Use a separate piece of paper for each major offensive argument.

  • Leave space at the top of each flow for overviews.

  • Organize line-by-line arguments so that it is visibly obvious which answers are responding to which arguments.

Points of Improvement

Here are some habits to discourage as students improve their flowing skills:

  • Flowing advantage and disadvantage arguments on the same sheet of paper.

    • Flowing two disadvantages or two advantages on the same sheet of paper.

  • Not visually indicating which line-by-line arguments correspond to one another.

Signs of Progress

Here are some positive signs that students are flowing effectively:

  • Keeping major arguments separate on their own flows.

  • Being able to cite which arguments responses correspond to from their flows.

  • Being able to cite which arguments were dropped from their flows.

  • Flowing overviews separately from the line-by-line debate.