Four paths through everything on this site.
There are 29 guides, 8 sample cases, 79 evidence entries, 12 practice tools, and 26 lesson plans here. That is a lot to walk into. Pick the person you are and follow the list in order.
Your first thirty days
Each path takes an hour a week. Everything on it is free and needs no account.
I am a student who has never debated
- Read the student and family FAQ, then compare the events.
- Draw a prompt from the prompt generator and give a one-minute speech. Do it three times this week.
- Take the rules quiz and learn the first twenty flashcards.
- Read the beginner guide for the event you picked: Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, Congress, or Policy.
- Read one sample case on the current topic aloud with the timer.
- Run the rebuttal drill daily for a week.
- Sign up. A coach follows up within a week.
I am a teacher starting a club
- Read how teachers can start a program, written for someone who has never debated.
- Pick one format for year one. The comparison table shows what each asks of you.
- Open the matching course in the curriculum and run lesson one at your first meeting.
- Print the flow sheets and bookmark the timer.
- Read the practice round plan before week nine.
- Check the tournament tracker and pick a first tournament.
- Ask CUDL for a coach. Partner schools get one in the building weekly at no cost.
I am a volunteer or parent judge
- Take the online judge training: five modules, a practice ballot, and a quiz. Forty minutes.
- Read the judging guide and keep it with you.
- Learn the first twenty glossary terms, especially dropped, extended, and weighing.
- Skim one sample case so the structure is familiar.
- Sign up to judge. We pair first-time judges with novice rounds and have staff on site all day.
I already compete and want to get better
- Open the evidence library for your topic and cut five cards with the card cutter.
- Read the block file on that page and write answers in your own words.
- Build your case in the case builder and cut it to time.
- Read the advanced guides: frameworks, theory and kritiks, disadvantages and counterplans, topicality and blocks.
- Run the research feed every Monday.
- Track it in the practice log and hold a streak through the season.
Save the library to this device
Every page you open is saved automatically once you visit the site. Use the button to save the whole library at once, then read guides, cases, and evidence with no connection. Nothing is sent anywhere; the pages sit in your browser.
Checking this browser.
If a page you have not saved comes up while you are offline, you land on the offline page with the list of what does work.
Not sure where you fit?
Ask the CUDL Guide in the corner of any page. Tell it your school and what you like, and it will point you at the right guide, tool, or form. Or call 704-650-2313.
Why this is free
Coaching and competition cost money that most Title I schools do not have. Sponsors fund the coaching; the library costs nothing to share. See what a summer institute provides and where the same thing lives here, and how this material is written and checked.
Pick one thing and start today.
A two-minute speech on a drawn prompt beats another hour of reading about debate.