Limited Citations Rules

These rules were unanimously approved by the NPDL Board of Directors for usage at the 2024 NPDL Fall Invitational Tournament. These rules temporarily replace XII.11: Evidence for this specific tournament.

LIMITED CITATIONS RULES FOR NPDL FALL 2024

Reference to published sources is allowed but should be limited. All evidence should be cited on a team’s evidence document. Judges should weigh their decision primarily on an argument’s logical reasoning, not on citations or quotes. Debaters are responsible for presenting evidence with integrity and accuracy.

1) Teams will share with their opponents and judge(s) their evidence document at the debate’s start. For in-person tournaments, the evidence document should be on paper. The opponents may retain the paper document during the round. For online tournaments, the document should be electronic.

2) Judges are not expected to read the evidence document upon receipt but may refer to it to confirm a team's compliance with evidentiary rules. The judge should not consider information on the evidence document not presented in a speech, or evidence presented in a speech but not found in the evidence document.

3) On the team evidence document, debaters should cite published sources and empirical evidence, providing full source citations: title, author, publication date, and the full quotation this information is based on. The transcription must be done during preparation time, by hand (if in-person on paper), and without ellipses. URLs should be included in an electronic evidence document, and must be made available on request after the round at in-person tournaments.