The Stock Issues of DebateThe Stock Issues of Debate

5 Things Every Debater Needs, and Needs to Know!

What are Stock Issues?

• Stock issues are 5 basic categories of information that must be provided in every debate round.

InherencyThe thing that is preventing the Status quo from changing.

Structural Barrier: A law or rule that prevents a change.

Attitudinal Barrier: Attitudes of people are preventing a change.

Harms are the bad things that the status quo does, and what the affirmative plans to solve.

Remember, The affirmative must solve for all of the harms they list!

PlanThe plan is the affirmative’s ideas to solve the harms listed earlier in their case.

The Plan also has several steps that the affirmative must consider.

1. Mandates:

2. Funding:

3. Enforcement:

SolvencySolvency is the place in which the affirmative proves that their plan will solve for the harms they talked about earlier.

Remember ! You must solve for all of your harms.

TopicalityTopicality is an argument made by the negative team that says the affirmative is not debating the resolution.

To develop a topicality argument the negative must show how the affirmative is non-topical (not debating the current topic).

Parts of Topicality

1. Definition-Define the word(s) that they are violating.

2. Violation-Explain how the negative’s case does not meet that definition.

3. Standards-Ways in which definitions can be used to check for topicality.

4. Voting-Explain why the judge should vote on topicality.

Web Sites of Interest

Debate Central

Cross-x.com

Debate Links