GENERAL RULES FOR DEBATE
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03. A moderator shall preside over every debate, and wherever possible, shall not also judge or
keep time. His or her role is merely to maintain order and enforce the rules: he or she
should not take an active part in the debate unless this is necessary to protect the rights of a
participant. Decisions of moderators are final and cannot be appealed; debaters shall accept
such rulings without question and should always obey the proper orders of a moderator.
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05. In every debate, each team shall have an equal amount of speaking time, and in every
debate in which individual debaters are competing for prizes or ranking, each student shall
have an equal amount of speaking time.
06. A timekeeper shall be present at each debate: his or her function is to time all speeches,
indicate to debaters during their addresses how much speaking time they have remaining,
and allow extra time for interruptions. When a debater has exhausted his or her speaking
time and a 15-second period of grace (if applicable), the moderator shall require the debater
to terminate his or her speech.
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08. Debates should be judged objectively (that is, on the speeches of the debaters as opposed
to the previous knowledge, personal opinions, or prejudices of judges).
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13. Debaters should always conduct themselves with dignity and be courteous towards other
debaters and officials. Debaters must not disrupt an opponent's speech by any interruptions
or distractions (such as loud whispering, shuffling of shoes, rustling of papers, grimacing,
affected laughter, etc.).
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14. Debaters may introduce any visual aids or other real evidence they desire during a debate,
but such evidence is thereafter available for use by their opponents.
15. Debaters may not make personal comments about other debaters; otherwise, they may
speak on any topics they like.... They should, however, confine their remarks to the resolution being debated
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16. Except for reasonable role-playing purposes and imagination in impromptu debates, all
assertions of fact by debaters must be accurate and debaters must be prepared to cite
specific authority (publication, page, author, date, etc.) for all such assertions immediately
upon being challenged to do so.
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19. Debaters have a duty to clash and judges should severely penalize those who present only
canned cases. While "rebuttal" is sometimes used to mean only attack on opposing
arguments and evidence and "refutation" to refer only to defence of one's own arguments
and evidence, in these rules "rebuttal" is used in a wider sense which includes "refutation".
Rebuttal is not restricted to the official rebuttal periods: debaters may attack their opponents'
arguments or evidence anytime during their speeches.
20. Only debaters and officials may speak during a contest. If able, debaters shall stand to
deliver all speeches, including asking and answering questions in Cross-Examination
debate and raising Points of Information in Worlds style Academic debate. Heckling,
however, is done without standing.
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23. Debaters should not unnecessarily repeat arguments or evidence. A debater may introduce
and review his or her important points with impunity, however, since this repetition can
provide emphasis and clarity.
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11. Code of Conduct (Excerpt from the Policy and Rules Manual)
Preamble: Coaches need to familiarize themselves with this code as well as the rules in the POLICY AND
RULES MANUAL and formally inform their debaters, parents, and supporters about these ethics and rules
prior to competition each school year.
11.1 PARTICIPANTS:
GENERAL
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b. Participants shall be courteous and friendly to other competitors, judges,
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e. Participants shall not argue with the judge or their opponents about the conduct or the
result of the speech or debate.
DEBATE.
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e. Debaters shall not breach normal courtesy by interruption, heckling, grimacing or
whispering loudly while an opponent is speaking.
f. Debaters shall not, either by word or action, seek to belittle their opponents. Debates must
be a clash of issues and not personalities.
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h. Debaters must respect the personal physical space of an opponent. (Do not invade an
opponent’s space.)
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Debaters shall not, either by word or action, seek to belittle their opponents. Debates must be a clash of
issues....
www.albertadebate.com/adebate/resources/styles/general_rules.pdf
