The team policy debate is the oldest and most common form of debate used in American high schools and colleges. The two sides are divided into an affirmative and a negative team, with each team having two debaters. A team policy debate round consists of two sets of four speeches. The first four speeches are constructive speeches and the last four are rebuttal speeches. Resolutions in this kind of debate are almost always governmental policy related. Persuasiveness is not considered as important as evidence gathering and presentation.
This form of debate arose as a reaction to the excessiveness of the team policy debate. The LD debate focuses on discussing the merits of competing ethical values in a persuasive manner. In the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas held seven debates on the issue of slavery. This resulted in the formation of the LD debate format. This format is commonly used in high schools and colleges. The LD debate consists of five speeches and two cross-examination periods with more time given to the affirmative side.
The NDT is the oldest and most commonly used form of debate in colleges and universities across America. The NDT debate consists of four constructive speeches, four rebuttals and four cross-examination periods that are in the same format as a team policy debate. It relies on large amounts of evidence and does not center on persuasive techniques.
CEDA is a two-on-two debate, with a structure similar to that of an NDT or team policy debate. It was developed with the intention of being a value driven debate, rather than a policy driven debate and is used to debate issues of public or government policy. A national CEDA topic is usually chosen each year for use in high schools across the United States.
Parliamentary debate is another form of academic debate developed due to the excessive nature of the NDT and team policy debates. It is popular at the university level and is loosely based on the British parliamentary debate. The emphasis is on persuasiveness, logic and wit. The parliamentary debate follows a format of six speeches total: four constructive speeches and two rebuttal speeches. Each separate round of parliamentary debate uses this format.