Judging British Parliamentary Debate Robert Trapp, Willamette University China Debate Education Network:

Judging British Parliamentary Debate

Robert Trapp, Willamette University

China Debate Education Network:

Judge as Educator

• A good judge is a good teacher, not necessarily a good debater

• Transitioning from to debater to judge• Role of judge to help students improve• Role of judge to encourage students,

especially beginners

Practical Elements of Judging

• Conducting the Debate– Do not start the debate until all debaters and judges are

present– Introduce the debate– Introduce each speaker in turn– Be prepared to keep time– After the debate, temporarily dismiss the debaters– After the decision is reached, reconvene the debaters,

announce the rankings and provide oral feedback

Keeping Good Notes

• Good notes are necessary in order to keep track of arguments constructed by all debaters

• A variety of methods of taking notes are possible

• Examine your notes in order to reach a decision and to discuss the decision with other judges on your judging panel

Reaching a Decision

• Most tournaments will use a form of “consensus judging”

• In consensus judging, all judges will have to agree on one set of rankings and speaker points for the teams

• In the rare instances where consensus is not possible, the decisions about final rankings are put to a vote with the chair’s vote serving as the tiebreaker

Responsibilities of the Chair

• Provide all the adjudicators a few minutes to look over their notes and independently decide their initial rankings

• NOT to bully the other judges into accepting the chair’s rankings

• Lead the post-debate discussion• Explain the rankings and give constructive

suggestions to each debater

Completing the Ballot

• Rank the teams 1st to 4th (1st is the best, 4th is the lowest)

• Assign speaker points– Technically range from 0-100– 75 points is generally considered the average– To rank a speaker 85 points or higher the debater should

have strong points, be well organized and very persuasive– To rank lower than 65 the debater is totally disorganized or

demonstrates poor argumentation skills

Sample Ballot

Ballot Before Debate Begins

Completing Ballot After Debate

Providing Oral Feedback

• Does the feedback encourage debaters, especially beginners, to improve?

• Does it clearly provide suggestions for improvement to each debater?

• Does it clearly explain the reasons the panel reached its decision?

Judging as Reasonable and Impartial

• Judge with respect to the topic at hand• Do not judge what was NOT presented if

another team also did not present the issue• Do not judge on preconceived view of the

arguments or motion• Judge as a “Reasonable and impartial

observer”

Judging Role Fulfillment

• Fulfillment of a role is secondary– It comes after judging of constructing cogent

arguments and engaging in sound refutation– Sometimes debaters are rewarded for creatively

departing from their role when circumstances dictate

• Debaters roles are presented in the lesson entitled “Introduction to British Parliamentary Debate”

Judging Effective Argumentation

• Evaluate the content for both reasoning and its impact on the debate

• How well do debaters argue their positions?– Who does the best job on key issues?– Who explains not only the claims bur the reasons and

evidence?– Who best crafts their arguments?– Who maintains logical consistency?– How relevant are the arguments to the debate and

motion?

Judging Points of Information

• Every speaker should raise points, even if those points are refused

• One way to keep track of this is to draw ticks next to the debater’s name each time they raise a point and circling the tick when their point is accepted

Judging Agenda Setting

• Does the debater create and contribute to the overall agenda of the debate?

• Does the debater work to ensure that the threads of argument he or she has introduced are discusses throughout the entire debate?

Debate Rubric

Debate Rubric Page 2