Marc Turetzky

Pols1: American Government          

Debate Peer Review Guidelines

Debate evaluations are worth 5% of your total course grade. You have to submit evaluations for each debate, OTHER than YOUR own debate (in the MW and TTH that means 9 reviews; in the T night class that means 4 reviews).

Here is what I want you to do: watch the debate with a critical, analytical eye and then write a review of what you observed. The reviews MUST be typed. Reviews should be doubled-spaced. You should use 12-point font and 1-inch margins (top and bottom, left and right). EACH review should be around half a page in length.

The key to writing a good review is to take good, accurate, complete notes AS you observe the debate. Then, all you need to do is type them out and submit them to me on the last day of the semester. You may want to create a Debate Peer Review Template which you can copy nine times. Then you can just fill in your observations on the day of each debate and later type them up. On the template simply include the list of questions seen below with enough space for you to take notes. Many students did it that way last semester to great effect.

When writing your review make sure to address the following issues:

-How good/convincing were the arguments made by BOTH teams?

-How good were the rebuttal arguments made by BOTH teams?

-How good were the visual aids of BOTH teams?

-How well did BOTH teams answer audience questions?

-Which debaters seemed MOST prepared to debate?

-Which team do you believe REALLY won the debate and why?

 Debate Peer Reviews are due TOGETHER on the last day of class. You can submit them any time before the due date as well. If you have any questions about this assignment, you can drop by or call me at my office (SS107; 848-4704) or email me (mturetzky@gavilan.edu). Good luck.