WELCOME TO BATH UNIVERSITY DEBATING SOCIETY (2008-2009)
Interested in learning how to improve your confidence? Want to persuade people you are right more often? Do you just like to argue with other people?
In which case, BUDS is the society for you. We meet once a week to practise debating and attend regular university debating competitions. This website is intended to be useful whether you are a fresher or doing your finals, a student at Bath University or not even a student at all. Whoever you are, this website will show you the importance of debating, its uses, and take you through the basics.
Our debates follow the British Parliamentary Style which involves two sides, a Proposition and an Opposition, with two teams of two people on each side. The two Proposition teams must agree with each other, as must the two Opposition teams - but every team is trying to win the debate by speaking the most persuasively.
A topic for debate is decided in advance, or at the meeting, in the form of a motion, which uses the phrasing of the House of Commons, e.g. "This House favours the death penalty". The Proposition argues in agreement with the motion as it is phrased, and the Opposition against.
Speeches are five minutes long, with the first and last minutes protected from points of information. Points of information arise when a member of the opposing team wishes to give or request information relevant to something the speaker on the floor has said.
A debate begins with the first speaker in the first Proposition team defining the motion and outlining the case, with subsequent speeches alternating between the Opposition and the Proposition. The order of speeches is:
| (1) First Proposition Team - First Speaker |
(2) First Opposition Team - First Speaker |
| (3) First Proposition Team - Second Speaker |
(4) First Opposition Team - Second Speaker |
| (5) Second Proposition Team - First Speaker |
(6) Second Opposition Team - First Speaker |
| (7) Second Proposition Team - Second Speaker |
(8) Second Opposition Team - Second Speaker |
Meetings: Thursdays 18:30 in 8W2.13