National Parliamentary Debate Association

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FAQ

1. What is parliamentary debate?

Parliamentary debate is an audience-centered form of two-person debate. In each debate, two students will represent the government side (or the side supporting the resolution), while two students will represent the opposition side (or the side negating the resolution). Students are expected to present arguments supporting their side while refuting arguments of the other team. Parliamentary debate is based loosely on the British model of parliament, with a bit of American academic debate style (such as the specific "flowing" of arguments) thrown in.

There are a variety of forms of parliamentary debate -- NPDA is but one of the forms. There's "World's Style" debate that typically involves four teams of two debaters. A few NPDA schools are involved with this format. Check out Colm's Debating page for far more coverage of the World's format, including tutorials.

The website has the 2005 national rules.

Prep time = 15 minutes (Nationals and some other tournaments will use 15 minutes + the length of time to walk to the furthest building)
First Proposition Constructive: 7 minutes
First Opposition Constructive: 8 minutes
Second Proposition Constructive: 8 minutes
Second Opposition Constructive: 8 minutes
Opposition Rebuttal: 4 minutes
Proposition Rebuttal: 5 minutes
Please note that there is no prep time in between each of the speeches. The following speaker is recognized as soon as the previous speaker has finished.

For starters, check the tournaments & results section of our site. In addition, you might want to consult the American Forensics Association calendar (not available online; contact Dr. James Pratt at University of Wisconsin-River Falls for more information).

• First, the tournament should be hosted or directed by a member school.
• Second, sanctioning information should be given to the Executive Secretary.
  • (Note: State, regional and district tournaments will be sanctioned provided sanctioning information has been submitted to the Executive Secretary.)
• Finally, the tournament director or host submits results within two weeks after the tournament's conclusion.

6. What is the difference between the NPDA and the American Parliamentary Debate Association?

This will depend on whom you ask; however, most believe that there are three major differences:

• APDA debate features relatively loose links (connections) to the resolution; NPDA debate is very tight linked to the resolution.
• APDA debate is student-run; while there are student-run programs in NPDA, many programs are faculty sponsored.
• APDA debate is national, with a primary focus in the U.S. East Coast; NPDA debate is national, with a predominant focus in the West.

There is a textbook written by Larry Galizio and Dr. Trischa Goodnow. You can find out information through the Addison Wesley Longman website.

Dr. Michael Eaves from Valdosta State University has also written a textbook, Fundamentals of Parliamentary Debate, published by Kendall-Hunt.

John Meany and Kate Shuster have also written a textbook, Art, Argument and Advocacy : Mastering Parliamentary Debate, published by IDEA press.

Dr. Mark Crossman has written a text, Burden of Proof: An Introduction to Government and Guide to Parliamentary Debate, 2nd edition. It is published by Thomson Custom Publishing.

In addition, Dr. Robert Trapp has written a chapter that appears in T.C. Winebrenner's Intercollegiate Forensics and on the NPDA website. The direct link is: http://www.parlidebate.org/parliamentary.html.

Otherwise, the reader is encouraged to be well-read in current events, as well as history, philosophy, etc. Remember: the realm of knowledge is that of a "well-read college student."

There are two resources. To find a list of NPDA members, consult the members link to the left. To find a list of many (not all) colleges that participate in college forensics, check out the IDEA website: http://www.idebate.org/projects/forensics/

9. What is this website's privacy policy?

The privacy policy for the NPDA website is available at: http://www.parlidebate.org/privacy.html

10. How do I subscribe to the parli-l listserv?

Go to the following website: http://lists.bethel.edu/mailman/listinfo/parli

Archives for both the new and old parli listserve can be found at: https://lists.bethel.edu/mailman/private/parli/

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Michael Dreher, the listowner.

11. How do I subscribe to npda-l?

NPDA-L is a list separate from the parli-l list. NPDA-L is designed for official communication from members of the NPDA executive council, and about official NPDA business. This list is moderated, and the listowner is Dr. Michael Dreher from Bethel University. To subscribe, point your web broswer to: http://lists.bethel.edu/mailman/listinfo/npda-l

12. How do I subscribe to the Northeast debate listserv?

Go to the following address: http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=NORTHEASTDEBATE&H=LIST.UVM.EDU

Dr. Tuna Snider of the University of Vermont is the listowner.

13. Why should I become a member?

Basically, there are four advantages to becoming a member:

• Member schools have the ability to vote on NPDA issues.
• Member schools may have tournaments sanctioned.
• Member schools are eligible to participate in the season-ending national tournament.
• Member schools are eligible for year-end season sweepstakes.

You can submit the membership form online (see the Member Info link on the left). Then, submit a check to Dr. Brent Northup -- the contact information is on the membership form page.

Simply posting results to the parli-l is insufficient! Results must be forwarded directly to the Executive Secretary. His contact information will be found at the end of this FAQ, or can be found on the officers page.

Consult the tournaments & results section of this website.

Tournaments are usually posted within 1-2 weeks of their completion. However, please allow for holiday and final exam periods. Often a tournament will not be listed because incomplete information has been received (i.e., elimination rounds aren't listed, etc.). If there's a question about a specific tournament, please wait a week or two -- if it's still not there, contact the Executive Secretary. The webmaster isn't responsible for tournament results! The Executive Secretary will post lists of tournaments he has not received information on npda-l (to subscribe, see #11 above.)

Please note: The Constitution calls for two official postings per year of the results. The website results are meant to be used for proofing purposes, not as an actual "rank in progress." Because not every tournament provides information in a timely fashion, the results on the website are not guaranteed to be accurate until the end of the season. Only the official results published by the Executive Secretary should be considered as official rankings.

Teams will receive a preliminary round point total equal to the decimal percentage of preliminary rounds won, multiplied by five. Preliminary round point totals will be calculated to two decimal points. Teams will accrue two points for a win for the first two elimination rounds that meet NPDA sweepstakes specifications.

What hasn't changed is the points from elimination rounds or that a school will earn points for the top 4 teams for the school regardless of division. Thus, a school cannot earn points from the top 4 varsity and the top 4 JV and the top 4 novice teams.

• An elim win counts as 2 points per round advanced (including byes) provided there are a sufficient number of teams at the elimination round level. If, for example, the tournament goes to quarterfinals with 12 teams, then the quarterfinal round won't count for NPDA sweepstakes purposes. Points are earned for the first two elimination rounds.

Examples:

• A team that wins 3 of 7 prelim rounds will earn (3/7) x 5 = 2.15 sweepstakes points.
• A team that wins 4 of 5 prelim rounds and their first elim round will earn (4/5) x 5 + 2 = 6 sweepstakes points.

19. How were sweepstakes points figured before this year?

Sweepstakes points were earned for the top 4 teams from each school regardless of division. Thus, a school cannot earn points from the top 4 varsity and the top 4 JV and the top 4 novice teams. Each team's points are figured across the tournament:

• A prelim win counts as 1 point per win (for a maximum of 4 rounds, using the last 4 rounds of the tournament). Note: it is not the number of ballots, but rather, the number of wins.
• An elim win counts as 2 points per round advanced (including byes) provided there are a sufficient number of teams at the elimination round level. If, for example, the tournament goes to quarterfinals with 12 teams, then the quarterfinal round won't count for NPDA sweepstakes purposes. Points are earned for the first two elimination rounds.
• This provides a total number of points per debate team. Each debate team is guaranteed a minimum of 1 sweepstakes point (even if they go 0-3 or 0-6).

Thus, it was possible for a 6-0 team who loses in the first prelim round to have less points than a 4-2 team that wins 2 elimination rounds (4 points in the former example, 8 in the latter).

This is no longer the case starting with 2007-2008. See #18 for the correct sweepstakes formula.

The first tiebreaker is to use the placings of the teams at each of the four tournaments: 1st place earns 5 tiebreaker points, 2nd place earns 3 tiebreaker points, and 3rd place earns 1 tiebreaker point. Tiebreaker points are split between all winning teams in the case of Phi Rho Pi style tournaments.

The Season Sweepstakes is based on the results of the top 4 tournaments for each school. The National Tournament Sweepstakes is based only on the National Tournament, and is based on the results of the top 4 teams for each school at the national tournament. Both sets of sweepstakes are announced at the National Tournament.

Contact Brent Northup for labels. There is a nominal $20.00 charge for the labels.

Danny Cantrell
Cerritos College
debaterdanny@yahoo.com

Brent Northup is working with a video company to transfer past rounds to DVD. The 2007 and 2003 tournaments are available. Go to: http://www.forensicstournament.net/npda.php?subpage=videoorder to purchase DVD's.