After providing a brief update about the 2022-2023 topic selection process, co-hosts Bill Batterman and Brian Manuel spend most of this episode discussing the water resources protection topic. What are their major takeaways? What trends have they identified? How do they expect the topic to develop during the rest of the season? They analyze the […]

We know high school policy debaters and their coaches are focused on this year’s water resources protection topic, but this episode discusses two other topics that might be of interest to listeners: next year’s proposed high school topics and this year’s college topic. In the first segment, co-hosts Bill Batterman and Brian Manuel explain how […]

In this short bonus episode of The 3NR’s new podcast, Bill Batterman and Brian Manuel discuss their early thoughts about topicality on this year’s water resources protection topic. Does “protection” provide a meaningful limit? How can the resolution be interpreted to exclude “effects topical” cases? We’ll revisit these and other topicality questions in the future, […]

In the first episode of The 3NR’s new podcast, co-hosts Bill Batterman and Brian Manuel discuss process counterplans (like the popular National Governors Association/Uncooperative Federalism Counterplan) and offer a few tips for how affirmative teams can better answer them. The following sources are referenced during the episode: Trufanov, Anthony. “Stupid CP’s are Stupid.” Debate Musings, […]

The long-awaited third season of the 3NR Podcast kicks off with a special guest edition featuring James Herndon (of Emory University) and Whit Whitmore (of the University of Michigan) alongside Scott Phillips. Topics covered include international fiat, impact turning new block impacts after link turning in the 2AC, and research practices/qualifications. The Contemporary Argumentation & […]

The 3NR Podcast is back with a new hour-long episode that is divided between two conversations: one looking back on this year’s Tournament of Champions and the other looking forward to summer institutes. Our TOC debriefing covers a lot of ground from the schedule to the judging pool to the class of 2011. The student-centered […]

Recorded at the end of April (Apologies for the delay. – ed.), the latest episode of the podcast features the return of Malcolm Gordon (his previous appearances include s01e03, s01e12, and s01e13). Several topics are covered during this hour-long discussion: Topicality: after judging two T debates together at the National Debate Tournament (round eight between […]

Scott Phillips and James Herndon are back for part two of their discussion of TOC preparation. This time, the goal is to help students prepare to debate on the negative. How can you prepare topicality arguments to protect yourself against new cases? How does the politics disadvantage fit into your preparation? What counterplans should you […]

Preparing for the season-ending tournaments? Heading to Lexington in a few weeks for the TOC? The latest episode of The 3NR Podcast is here to help. In part one of a two-part series, Scott Phillips and James Herndon discuss affirmative preparation and strategy. When should you read a new case? What makes a new case […]

As promised, the latest edition of The 3NR Podcast centers entirely around reader/listener-submitted questions. With the full crew on board, the discussion covers a lot of ground including email evidence, the way that judges should (and do) balance explanation versus evidence, debating the case against COIN affirmatives, and more. Click on over to podcast.the3nr.com to […]