Lincoln Douglas Debate 4.1: Flowing

Summary

In this video from Tobias Park's LD Course, the art of 'flowing'—a critical skill in Lincoln Douglas Debate—is discussed. Flowing helps debaters track arguments by using a flow pad, typically a legal pad, divided into columns for each speech. This organization helps in keeping the arguments clear and allows for the strategic placement of responses marked with arrows. Pre-flowing your own cases optimizes time management and argument tracking, while using shorthand keeps the notes concise and efficient. The video provides invaluable insights for debaters aiming to enhance their skills.

Highlights

• Flowing is a crucial skill in Lincoln Douglas Debate, allowing debaters to keep track of arguments. 📝
• A flow pad, often a legal pad, is used to organize arguments across multiple columns. 📒
• Each column represents a different speech in the debate round, helping debaters track the progression of arguments. 📊
• Arrows on the flow pad indicate responses to previous points, maintaining the debate's logical flow. ➡️
• Pre-flowing your own case saves time and ensures you’re ready to respond to attacks efficiently. ⏳

Key Takeaways

• Flowing is essential in LD debate to track and rebut arguments effectively. 🌊
• Using a legal pad with divided columns ensures clarity and organization. 📑
• Arrows serve as a visual guide to link arguments and responses. 🔄
• Pre-flowing can prevent disruptions and make argumentation more efficient. ⏲️
• Using shorthand and abbreviations is vital due to limited space. 📝

Overview

Flowing in Lincoln Douglas (LD) debate is an indispensable skill that ensures debaters can effectively track and respond to arguments as they unfold. This technique involves using a flow pad—a specialized organizational tool, like a legal pad—to capture the progression of points across a debate round systematically. Each column on the pad corresponds to different speeches, allowing debaters to maintain a clear overview of the debate's direction.

A critical aspect of flowing is the use of arrows to connect arguments and their responses. This visual technique helps debaters understand the dynamic interaction between opposing arguments, ensuring they don't lose track as the debate progresses. Additionally, preemptively writing down your own case—known as pre-flowing—can streamline the debate process, saving precious time and preventing confusion when the opposing side makes their rebuttals.

Tobias Park emphasizes the importance of using shorthand and abbreviations, given the constrained space on a flow pad. This practice is not just about convenience but also about maintaining the speed and clarity needed in a debate setting. By mastering these techniques, debaters can enhance their strategic edge and present their cases with confidence and precision.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Flowing in Lincoln-Douglas Debate The chapter provides an introduction to 'flowing' in Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate, which involves recording arguments in a structured format on a 'flow pad'. Flowing is essential for tracking the exchange of arguments between the affirmative (aff) and negative (neg) sides during a debate round. The flow pad, typically a legal pad, is used to organize and visualize the debate's progression and content.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Purpose and Importance of Flowing The chapter titled 'Purpose and Importance of Flowing' emphasizes the critical role of writing down arguments during debates, a process known as 'flowing.' This practice is essential for maintaining the structure and coherence of an argument, noting the opponent's points, and preparing for subsequent speeches. By documenting these elements, debaters ensure they are thoroughly prepared and can effectively present their arguments to the judge, minimizing the risk of forgetting key points. The chapter highlights the potential pitfalls of relying solely on memory in debate contexts, advocating instead for the structured approach that 'flowing' provides.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Basic Structure of a Flow Pad Flowing is essential for tracking arguments in a debate round.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Writing Arguments in the Correct Column The chapter emphasizes the importance of keeping a detailed record of arguments, especially in debates or situations where multiple arguments might be presented. It highlights the experience of the author, who, despite many years of practice, still relies on tools like a flow pad to track arguments and organize responses. The flow pad, described as a yellow legal pad, serves as a vital tool for maintaining order and providing a reference point for later review of the debate or discussion. The author suggests that using such a tool helps ensure that no arguments are missed and that responses are properly organized.
• 04:00 - 06:00: Using Arrows for Argument Responses The chapter discusses the usage of a legal pad or similar notebook with several columns to structure and respond to arguments. The notebook is typically divided into five columns, each representing a different aspect or speech in a debate round. This helps in organizing thoughts and preparing responses effectively. The essential idea is to have a flat, long paper, such as a legal pad, which aids in keeping track of arguments during debates.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Taking Notes and Abbreviations This chapter discusses how to take notes effectively using columns for different parts of a debate, such as affirmative constructive, negative constructive, and rebuttals. The narrator reflects on mistakes made in the setup of note columns, such as incorrect width, and provides guidance on organizing arguments from speeches in the appropriate column.
• 08:00 - 10:00: Organizing Affirmative and Negative Cases The chapter titled 'Organizing Affirmative and Negative Cases' focuses on structuring arguments according to their respective speeches during a debate. It provides guidance on how to categorize and locate arguments within the framework of affirmative and negative cases. For instance, any argument presented during the first affirmative rebuttal should be documented in the corresponding column of the debate record. As an example, if an argument was made about 'Bob likes hot dogs' during the first affirmative rebuttal, it should be noted under the 1AR column as 'Bob likes hot dogs.' The chapter emphasizes systematic organization to ensure clarity and coherence in presenting and tracking debate arguments.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Pre-Filling Your Own Case The chapter discusses the strategic process of preparing responses in debates, particularly focusing on the system of labeling arguments appropriately. The example given involves the negative argument regarding someone's preference for hot dogs, illustrating how to organize and respond effectively within the structured framework of a debate. The chapter emphasizes the importance of accurately writing and categorizing arguments to efficiently address and rebut opposing claims. Additionally, it hints at specific techniques ('special trick') for crafting arguments that are responses to others, although details on this technique are not fully elaborated.
• 12:00 - 14:00: Conclusion and Final Tips This chapter focuses on structuring arguments and responses clearly and graphically using columns and arrows. An example is provided with a scenario involving two speakers, 'F' and 'neg.' The 'F' speaker makes an argument about Bob liking hot dogs, while the 'neg' speaker challenges this, showing how to visually map out arguments and counterarguments on paper. The chapter likely concludes by offering tips on enhancing clarity and effectiveness in argumentation and debate.

Lincoln Douglas Debate 4.1: Flowing Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 today I'm going to teach you about something that's very important in LD and that thing is called flowing and to do keep flowing I have to show you like how to write stuff on what we call a flow pad which is basically a legal a legal pad which I have here so you're probably looking at this and you're probably really confused like what is this so let me explain so before I start before I get to all of this you might be wondering in terms of 8-round how do we keep track of all the arguments that are going back and forth the app is talking the Negus talking
• 00:30 - 01:00 there's a lot of things going on we got to write the arguments down right or we're gonna lose track of them we can't just remember them in our head people have tried to do that by the way and it ends very badly so we have to write the arguments down we have to write down what the opponent says and in his speech we have to write down what we're going to say in our next speech during prep time and then when we're up there at the podium we have to read off that sheet of paper what we're gonna say so we remember what our arguments are that we have to you know give in front of the judge so in debate this process of writing everything down is called flowing why is
• 01:00 - 01:30 it called flowing it's called flowing because it helps us keep track of the flow of all the arguments in the round and it's also called flowing in another way which we'll see soon because you write the arguments across this way it flows from the left to the right so why do we need to flow why do we need to use this thing and write stuff on it we need to flow so we don't miss any arguments because you try to keep track of it all in your head you can't you cannot keep track of all this in your head just take it from me right now many people have tried they've all failed
• 01:30 - 02:00 you cannot keep track of it in your head at least not until you have many years of experience I've had many years of experience and I still use this so you need this to keep track of everything to make sure you don't miss any arguments and it also gives you a chance to write down your response to an argument in a nice organized fashion and it provides an organized way also to look back and remember the round later so anyway to flow we need a flow pad this is a flow pad does this yellow sheet of paper it's basically a legal pad okay I just use a legal pad or I'm not sure if this is a
• 02:00 - 02:30 legal pad know what this is it has a ring but anyways it's some kind of thing you can use elite most people use a legal pad you can use anything that's kind of like this doesn't matter just as long as there's a flat long piece of paper the longer the better I guess okay so the legal pad or the notebook is split into five columns right one two three four five five columns one column for each speech in the round one column for
• 02:30 - 03:00 the affirmative constructive one column for the negative constructive and the first negative rebuttals also at the end of that so maybe I'll write that to the first negative rebuttal or just an egg case which would make this the second negative rebuttal yeah that's what they call it first affirmative rebuttal I don't know why I made this so narrow it should be wider second negative rebuttal so I can affirmative rebuttal I don't know why I made this so wide it should be narrower okay so this is how it works you write the arguments that were given in a speech in the correct column so for
• 03:00 - 03:30 every argument you write it in the correct column according to speech it was given in for example say that I say that I make an argument in the first affirmative rebuttal okay so any arguments that are given in the first affirmative rebuttal in that speech they go here so saying the first affirmative rebuttal I argued that Bob likes hot dogs so then in the 1a are calm I might write Bob likes hot dogs okay Bob likes
• 03:30 - 04:00 hot dogs all right if I give a speech in the second negative rebuttal I I write it here so say the negative argues Kim likes hot dogs so I'm right right Kim like hot dogs okay so that's that's how it works we write the arguments just write them in the correct column okay so you want to label these all right now there's a special trick for our arguments that are responses to other arguments if you're writing an argument
• 04:00 - 04:30 that is responds to an earlier argument you draw an arrow from the original argument into the next column and that arrow points to the response so let me show you what I mean say that F says Bob likes hot dogs okay that's the F argument neg wants to argue no he does not Bob does not like hot dogs so he's gonna respond the neg is going to respond in this speech to the AFT argument by drawing a line an arrow from here to here okay and he says no Bob does not like hot
• 04:30 - 05:00 dogs Bob does not like hot dogs he likes bacon okay so what's this mean this means that the app argued Bob likes hot dogs this arrow means that this is a response to that and since this is in the second negative rebuttal this means that first affirmative rebuttal app said Bob likes hot dogs second negative rebuttal the the neg responded to this
• 05:00 - 05:30 argument with this argument that no Bob does not like hot dogs okay and then you know if the app wants to respond again he can so you can say yes he does okay so we have that arrow system that's how we keep track of responses okay that's how we keep track of responses in the rounds so whenever argument is a response you're gonna you're gonna write you can write an arrow like that okay so what you want to do is while your opponent is talking giving his speech you want to write down his arguments so as the affirmative is
• 05:30 - 06:00 talking the negative all the negative is doing is writing stuff here affirmative stalking bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla all during the first affirmative rebuttal first affirmative rebuttal ends nag starts prep time during prep time an egg thinks of responses he's gonna make in his speech against all this so you might say well my response against this is gonna be a bla bla bla my response against this is gonna be blue a bla bla my response against this is gonna be lovely bla livid the bla bla bla bla okay so that's not too hard you use
• 06:00 - 06:30 arrows and then you know you keep using arrows for every responses if for some reason something just comes up out of nowhere that's not a response to anything just write it so like this is not a response this is not a response say this this is represents an argument that is not a response just write it no arrows pointing to it there can be arrows pointing front up from it if say app responds to it over here I don't know yeah so yeah also notice there's
• 06:30 - 07:00 not a lot of space on this flow pad do not flow every word that your opponents saying you are not trying to dictate his whole entire speech you're just kind of writing an outline just get all the important stuff so like the hook you want to get in one sentence the value just briefly the criterion the tags are the contentions and the names of the examples those are the main things you need I'll put that on the screen the hook the value the Criterion's the contention tags the name of the examples at minimum and use shorthand okay she even shorten or abbreviate of course so like instead of
• 07:00 - 07:30 saying free trade and spelling out free trade I might write something like F R T turd Burchard sure and fair trade oh they both have an R alright okay okay well write out free but maybe free tea and tea yeah at the point you can use abbreviations for your words you don't have to write everything out and you
• 07:30 - 08:00 don't have to you should also write down the logic and warrants that your opponent uses to support their points so you know if they give a contention one something with an example and you want to write down kind of the logic but this is you're making an outline okay everything you're writing here it's not word-for-word it's just an outline just enough that you remember what they're saying all right that's what you want to do you don't have a lot of space all right for the cases this is a lot of people don't understand this at first but when the affirmative is giving his
• 08:00 - 08:30 affirmative case okay first of all you might be wondering why there's these two lines here I drew these lines okay write the affirmative case you flow in the upper the upper left okay you do not flow it down here I will show you why not in a minute but you flow it up here okay not here here so you might say hook Reagan quote because everyone uses Reagan quotes value human rights because everyone runs value of human rights to notice how I abbreviated human rights as HR contention one human rights are
• 08:30 - 09:00 awesome this guy should really change his tags yeah example life we are all alive I don't know all right so right that's the FK s' now the NED case does not go in the upper section it goes in the lower section so hook analogy value quality-of-life abbreviated qol connection 1 blah blah
• 09:00 - 09:30 blah why do we do it this way you might be wondering why I'll show you why because remember when you're writing a response right to an argument you write a straight arrow this way right if the neg case were up here what would happen then the responses to the affirmative case would flow into the negative case and you'd be writing everything on top you'd be writing the responses the neg would have to write the responses to the app case on top of their own case that's not good right so
• 09:30 - 10:00 the app case is here so that the responses to the eff case can go here so the responses are here net case is here and then as we continue going across nothing bumps into each other it's all just this one line okay so it starts out 1/2 neg wah just streams across the whole page whereas if the net case was here then you would have F neg whoa everything's on top of each other and it's one huge mess and I can't read anything and nothing's written on the
• 10:00 - 10:30 bottom of the page so you write the F case on the top you write the neg on the bottom then you have this extra space here what's this for it's for whatever you want some people just leave it blank what I like to do is I like to write my cross ex questions in there so we're gonna go over cross X in the next section but basically cross X you're asking questions to your opponent while you're hearing their case you can start to think of questions while you're hearing their case and you can write them here so like cross X questions I'm
• 10:30 - 11:00 gonna ask and you can ask things like is say your neg and you're asking Cross X questions of the half right is life a human right another question okay that's my suggestion but or you can just leave this blank some people have a little notepad that they also hold like a small one in their hand that they write their cross-sex questions on and that's cool too but yeah that's why we
• 11:00 - 11:30 write the half case up here and the net case down here so that the FK SCO's takes up this half and the neg stuff takes up this half whereas if we were all in one everything would be a huge mess and it's just more organized this way all right and remember another common mistake people make is when they're flowing responses to this they go like this I'm gonna respond to the analogy whoop and they write the response all the way up here no that defeats the purpose your arrows should be straight lines to the right straight lines to the right not diagonal writes up because again if you write the
• 11:30 - 12:00 response to the analogy up here it's gonna crash into the responses to the FK s' from from over here right and then there's gonna be a collision here and it's just gonna be one jumbled mess so I think you get the idea so I'll stop going over this alright one last thing pre flow your own case so what do I mean by that this is starting to get messy so let's go to another page I should have written this beforehand I'm just gonna make lines by the way this is how you make a flow pad you just make lines draw
• 12:00 - 12:30 stuff on it okay so I can even write this line you can do that too if you want so then all the app stuff is up here and all the next dos they're all those stuff from the FK s-- is here and all the stuff from the net case is here I mean it doesn't matter okay one year say your app before the round starts you want to pre flow your own case so write down your hook right write down your value write down what it is write down
• 12:30 - 13:00 all that stuff pre write your own case into the flow and the reason for that is so you don't waste time writing it in the middle of the round one it saves timing it's better otherwise what's gonna happen the negs gonna start attacking a case he's gonna say the regen quote is bad human rights is bad and all of a sudden you're gonna be like wait I'm writing these arrows but there's nothing to start the aerilon right because if you don't pre flow your case this stuff isn't here it's just blank and then the next arts attacking a case saying I'm gonna attack his criterion now uh-oh your criterion isn't
• 13:00 - 13:30 written down now you have to waste time writing it down and by the time you're done the negs done with his argument you don't know what he said now there's this big empty space on your flow and you can't respond to that and that's not good so that's why you want to pre flow your own case rate your own case in same thing for neg FK is here in that case here you get the idea alright and to get air flow pad just get a legal pad from an office store and write these lines with a pen on your own and label it in this way there are fancier ways to you can buy
• 13:30 - 14:00 flow books from places like monument publishing has some but this is the easiest way the most common way and probably the cheapest way so that pretty much covers flowing so I will see you in the next video