RESOURCES

The New York Parliamentary Debate League is a completely student debate league that runs high school tournaments under the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) rules for parliamentary debate. Parliamentary debate is the most popular form of debate at the collegiate level and it has recently started become popular at the high school level, as well. Parliamentary debate differs from other debate formats in the way that all of the rounds are completely impromptu. Debaters will receive three topics and then flip a coin to choose one of the topics and the side that they will debate. After this, each team will have 15 minutes to prepare without the help of any outside sources, such as prepared briefs, the internet, coaches, and any other research material. The only information they will be able to use in round is what they already know. Because of this style, parliamentary debate helps students improve both their critical thinking skills and their speaking and debate skills far more than other debate formats do. If you'd like to learn more about the format, such as speaking times and other rules, please check out the Vassar style guide, which is used at the Vassar and Yale Invitationals. There are many other available resources for starting a team, hosting a tournament, teaching and learning Parli, tournament feedback, and an equity guide.