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THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF
THE UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE

Selection of Debate Topic Steeped in Research, not Randomness

By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Tuesday, February 07, 2012 10:28 AM


Rebecca Meeks (in red) from Devine HS who was the Texas representative last year defends her paper before the National Wording Committee.

Photo by Jana Riggins

After a rigorous academic process extending more than one and a half years, the cross-examination debate topic for next season, 2012-2013, has been announced. The official topic is Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.

Most people in the debate community are unaware of how resolutions are selected. When the topic goes public, you’ve probably asked yourself, “Where did that topic come from?” I promise, it wasn’t random or haphazard. The process for picking a policy debate topic the entire nation will debate for a complete school year is actually quite sophisticated and steeped in research and analysis. (It’s debate – of course it would be!)

Because all states use the topic, the National Federation of High School Associations coordinates the process. NFHS hosts an annual meeting that allows the debate community to gather to discuss potential topics. It is open to debate coaches, students and the representative from each state association.

The meeting is at the beginning of August, and the site is rotated each year so all areas of the United States have the opportunity to be a local site. Texas has hosted the meeting several times in the past. Host cities have included San Antonio, Corpus Christi and most recently in 2008, UIL hosted the meeting in the capitol city.

Attendees take an active role in the multiple-day conference, thanks in part to a former UIL Executive Director. Potential topics are generated at the previous meeting. The body votes for topics that would make good debate resolutions and the top 12 vote getters are then assigned to individuals to research and author a study report at the next summer meeting.

Writers research their topic throughout the fall and early spring to prepare a paper using National Federation guidelines. When they arrive at the meeting, they present a brief oral presentation on their topic to the entire assembly. Afterwards, the members break up into smaller groups called Marshall Committees (named after Dr. Bailey Marshall who advocated that all participants should have the opportunity to actively engage in the process). These committees meet with the authors, review the research and discuss potential wording for the topics.

The entire group reassembles to put forth possible wordings of resolutions and the assembly takes a straw vote on which topics have enough potential to advance to the Wording Committee.

The Wording Committee spends the entire second day of the conference meeting with each author and scrutinizing every possible wording for the particular topic. I’ve had the privilege of serving on the Wording Committee, as have Texas representatives Virginia Myers, Rich Edwards, Gay Hollis, Bill Schuetz, Terri Robinson, Christy Spruiell (Trussell), David Gardiner and Russell Kirkscey. Their task is quite arduous as they attempt to get at the heart of a topic area and word the resolution in such a way that there is a balance between affirmative and negative positions.

The resolution wordings are then presented before the entire assembly on the third day. More discussion takes place. Input from the members is considered. Finally, the voting process officially begins.

Voting delegates from state associations such as UIL and interested organizations (NFL, NCFL, etc.) vote for what they consider to be the best five topics. Votes are tallied and the topic that receives the least votes is removed from consideration.

Discussion is renewed and another vote is taken until there are only five topics remaining. These five are then placed on a national ballot and presented to the debate community for consideration.

UIL conducts the ballot distribution and collection for Texas, reporting results of a first ballot to the National Federation in October. Other states follow the same procedure and the NFHS tallies the votes to determine the top two resolutions to be placed on a final ballot

Once again, UIL sends the ballot to your school and makes it conveniently available online. The second vote occurs in late fall and by January, one topic is announced as the policy resolution debaters all across the nation will debate.

So you see, the topic doesn’t just magically appear. Nor is it drafted behind closed doors. The selection process is open to anyone who wishes to participate. Your state association is instrumental in the entire process. In addition to my role as the voting delegate, the League sponsors two debate coaches to attend the meeting on behalf of our state.

The first year, the individual selected is exposed to the intricacies of the process, serving as an apprentice, per se. The second year, he or she writes a study report on behalf of UIL and presents it at the national meeting.

I encourage any experienced debate coach willing to research and write a study report over a topic area to go online to the UIL debate webpage and complete the volunteer form so you can be considered for this important role.

So the next time you hear the release of the policy debate topic and wonder, “Who in the world wrote this?" you will know that very dedicated, outstanding coaches and officials from throughout America invested time and effort to give your students a quality topic to debate.