The Apology of Socrates
Socrates’ defense at his trial, a model of answering accusations calmly and of arguing from principle.
Debate · Resources
Debate Resources
How to join or start a debate club at school or in a homeschool co-op, the leagues and organizations, free places to practice and find topics, and classic speeches and debates worth studying.
Joining a team
If your school has a speech and debate team, ask the coach when practices meet; most teams welcome beginners at any point in the year. If it doesn’t, you can start one (below). Homeschooled students can join a club in a homeschool league such as NCFCA or Stoa, or start one with other families. Adults can find public debate societies and clubs in many cities, and college students can join their school’s team or start a parliamentary club.
Starting a club at school
The National Speech & Debate Association’s starter guide suggests these steps:
- Find an adult adviser. Most tournaments require a school-approved adult to register students. The adviser doesn’t need debate experience; a teacher, an alumnus, or (if the school allows) a parent or a local lawyer can act as sponsor.
- Get school approval. Ask the main office or activities director how to form a club. Sometimes all you need is a signature to compete.
- Join a league. Your adviser can sign the school up for NSDA membership (which has a fee) and for your state’s league. That opens up resources, tournaments and student honors.
- Find tournaments. Look on Tabroom.com for tournaments near you, ask the NSDA to connect you with your district, and start with a few local or online tournaments.
- Plan the money. Tournaments charge entry fees, and travel costs money. Ask whether school or parent-group funds are available, and plan fundraising.
Sources: [1]
Starting a club in a homeschool co-op
- Decide on a league, or none. NCFCA and Stoa clubs follow their league’s rules, resolutions and tournament calendar. An independent club can debate any topic, any format, any week.
- Recruit a parent coach (no experience needed) and a few families with students about 12 and up. Younger students can do Oxford-style debates and short speeches.
- Meet weekly for 60 to 90 minutes. A steady routine matters more than a perfect curriculum. Use the Learn to Debate chapters in order.
- Train parents as judges. Every family can judge practice rounds with the printable ballots and a ten-minute talk on what judges look for.
- Hold a showcase. An Oxford-style debate for families at the end of a term gives students a goal and an audience.
A sample club meeting (75 minutes)
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 10 min | Warm-up: a two-minute impromptu speech each, or the fallacy spotter |
| 15 min | Lesson: one Learn to Debate chapter, read aloud and discussed |
| 10 min | Drill: four-step refutation or cross-ex practice in pairs |
| 30 min | Practice round with the timer: one Public Forum or Lincoln-Douglas round, others flowing |
| 10 min | Feedback: judges give one strength and one goal to each debater |
A first semester for a new club
- Weeks 1–2: What a Debate Is and Reading a Resolution; dinner-table debates on beginner topics.
- Weeks 3–4: Building a Case; everyone writes one contention for each side of a beginner topic.
- Weeks 5–6: Refutation and Steelman vs Strawman; rebuttal and steelman drills.
- Weeks 7–8: Cross-Examination and Flowing; first full practice rounds.
- Weeks 9–10: Weighing and Speaking Well; rounds with parent judges.
- Weeks 11–12: a practice tournament or an Oxford-style showcase for families.
Leagues and organizations
High school leagues
Most American high school debaters compete through a national association and their state’s league; rules and topics can differ between them.
National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA)Middle and high school, nationwide
The largest U.S. speech and debate organization and honor society. It publishes topics for Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum and Congress, posts the NFHS policy topic, sets rules in its Unified Manual and runs a national tournament.
Your state's high school leagueHigh school, by state
Many states run speech and debate through their activities association (for example, Texas’s University Interscholastic League or the Oregon School Activities Association), with their own rules and state championships. Ask your school’s activities office.
National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL)Urban public schools
Based in Chicago; supports Urban Debate Leagues in about 19 cities at hundreds of middle and high schools, and holds a national championship.
Homeschool leagues
Both leagues are volunteer-run Christian organizations for homeschooled students, with local clubs, regional tournaments and national championships.
NCFCAHomeschooled high school students
Offers Team Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Value debate, ten speech events and moot court, in 14 regions with about 3,000 students (2022–23). Publishes its own resolutions and rules.
StoaHomeschooled high school students
Founded in 2009; offers Team Policy, Lincoln-Douglas and many speech events, and holds the National Invitational Tournament of Champions (NITOC).
World Schools and international
USA Debate and the USA World Schools Debate InvitationalHigh school
Run by the NSDA; selects the U.S. national team for the World Schools Debating Championships and runs a World Schools invitational.
World Schools Debating ChampionshipsNational high school teams
The annual international championship in the World Schools format.
College
National Debate Tournament and CEDACollege policy debate
College policy debate’s two main organizations, with one shared topic each year.
National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA)College parliamentary debate
Nationwide parliamentary debate with a new motion each round and twenty minutes of preparation.
American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA)College parliamentary debate
Student-run parliamentary circuit, mostly at colleges in the eastern U.S., where the government often writes its own case.
National Forensic AssociationCollege speech and Lincoln-Douglas
College individual events and a one-person policy-style Lincoln-Douglas debate.
American Mock Trial AssociationCollege mock trial
Runs intercollegiate mock trial with one case for all schools; about 700 teams compete.
World Universities Debating ChampionshipUniversity British Parliamentary
The world championship in British Parliamentary debate; its Debating & Judging Manual is the format’s main rulebook.
Free practice and topic sources
- Debates with Both Sides. Teddy Rook Book’s resolutions with both sides steelmanned, background and reading lists.
- Debate tools: timer, flow sheets, case builder, drills and ballots. Free, work offline once loaded, and save in your browser.
- Current NSDA topics, National Speech & Debate Association. Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum and policy topics, plus past topics to practice with.
- Self-Guided Student Learning, National Speech & Debate Association. Free lessons and videos for students.
- Tabroom, National Speech & Debate Association. Tournament calendar, entries, results and judge paradigms.
- Open to Debate, Open to Debate. Recorded Oxford-style public debates on hundreds of motions; good for flowing practice and for hearing both sides argued well.
- Britannica ProCon, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Pro and con summaries on many issues with sources.
- Congressional Research Service reports, via EveryCRSReport. Nonpartisan background reports written for members of Congress.
- Teaching American History: Federalist and Anti-Federalist documents, Teaching American History. Primary sources from the founding debates.
- Founders Online, National Archives. The founders’ papers, including Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s opinions on the national bank.
- Informal Logic on the Logic Ladder. Arguments, definitions and every fallacy, with practice.
Classic speeches and debates to study
Read these for how they argue, not only for what they say: find the claim, the reasons, the answer to the other side, and the appeal to character and feeling. Links marked On this site open the text in the Harvard Classics or elsewhere on Teddy Rook Book.
Crito
Socrates argues with a friend about whether to escape prison; a careful back-and-forth that weighs obligations, useful for the civil disobedience topic.
Lives of Demosthenes and Cicero
How the ancient world’s two most famous orators trained (Demosthenes practiced with pebbles in his mouth) and how their speeches shaped events.
On this site Cicero’s life: December 7.
Rhetoric
The founding book on persuasion: ethos, pathos and logos, the enthymeme, and the three kinds of speeches.
The Federalist, Nos. 1 and 2
Opening the case for the Constitution, Hamilton admits that “wise and good men” are on both sides of great questions, then argues his side hard: a lesson in fair-minded persuasion.
The Declaration of Independence
A classic argument in form: a principle, a long list of evidence, and a conclusion.
Reflections on the Revolution in France
A powerful argument for prudence and tradition against rapid change; read it alongside defenders of the Revolution to practice weighing.
On this site More: July 14.
Farewell Address
Advice to the nation on unity, parties and foreign alliances, often quoted in debates on foreign policy and term limits.
On Liberty
The classic case for free discussion, including the argument that you don’t know your own side until you know the other side at its best.
On this siteRead the text Chapter II is on Project Gutenberg.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates
Seven debates on the spread of slavery, the format’s namesake; study how each answered the other’s strongest questions.
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
A masterpiece of turning an audience’s own principles into an argument, with ethos, pathos and logos working together.
Gettysburg Address
Ten sentences that reframe a war around a principle; a lesson in brevity.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
A point-by-point reply to critics that restates their objections fairly before answering them: steelmanning in action.
Hamilton's and Jefferson's opinions on the national bank
Two cabinet memos that are still the clearest statement of the broad and strict readings of the Constitution.
Sources
- How to Start a Team, National Speech & Debate Association. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- National Christian Forensics and Communications Association, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Stoa USA, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-25.
Organizations change their rules, dues and websites; check each one’s own site before you sign up. Updated 2026-10-25.