Stock Weighing

This is meant to be a brief review on the essential weighing techniques, in order to apply them to the NSDA Public Forum debate topic for September and October. If you don’t know anything about weighing or want a more detailed review, see this page on weighing.

Buzzwords/vocab in these notes:

BuzzwordDefinition
Aff/AffirmativeThe “pro” side in the debate - advocating for the resolution
Neg/NegativeThe “con” side in the debate - objecting to the resolution
Scope“How many” -- How broadly is the impact felt across a population or even the world?
MagnitudeGoes hand in hand with scope. The severity: How severe is the impact? Size of the harm
Timeframe“My impact happens first”, “My impact lasts longer”. Be sure to implicate what this does for your case.
Probability weighingThe likeliness of something happening. Be sure to always implicate.
Prerequisite“My argument causes their argument”. “War (my impact) also hurts the economy (a prerequisite to their impact), so the economy will also go down”
Short-circuitPrevents or stops an argument from happening. “If research and development goes down, you can’t make the drug”.