Debate prep time is won in stages, not in a rush. Spend the first two minutes reading the motion on your own, agree one or two strong arguments with your partner, settle the definitions and the model, then write the reasoning for each argument and the other side's best answer to it. In British Parliamentary debate you get 15 minutes for all of that, with no internet, no AI and no phone.
EdCitation publishes this guide. Every rule in it comes from a rulebook or coaching guide we read on 27 September 2026; where they disagree, we say so. The prep sheet and the worked example are ours.
Prep time itself is yours alone, and EdCitation never writes any part of a speech or a case. What EdCitation does is the work before the tournament: Find sources searches published research by topic or by claim, so that when a prepared motion arrives, or when you practise between tournaments, you already know the evidence on both sides.
How much prep time do you get in each format?
Prep time runs from zero to an hour, and what you may bring changes with it. How each format runs after prep is in debate formats explained.
| Format or event | Prep time | Who may help | What you may use | Rulebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Parliamentary (WUDC) | 15 minutes from the motion's release | Your partner only | No internet, no generative AI, no phones, laptops or tablets | WUDC manual, 2027 edition |
| World Schools, impromptu motion | One hour from the motion being read | Team members only | An English dictionary, a bilingual dictionary, one single-volume encyclopaedia or almanac; no device | WSDC rules, August 2026, rule 10 |
| World Schools, prepared motion | Weeks: motions reach the host at least 8 weeks ahead | Anyone, before the day | Any research, found with Find sources or elsewhere | WSDC rules, rule 8.1 |
| NSDA Extemporaneous Speaking | 30 minutes from the draw | Nobody | Uncut published articles; internet research at the National Tournament | NSDA manual 2026-27 |
| NSDA Impromptu | 7 minutes to prepare and speak, combined | Nobody | Uncut printed articles; no electronic device | NSDA manual 2026-27 |
| NSDA Extemporaneous Debate | Resolution posted 30 minutes before the round | Not stated | The internet, and material made in prep | NSDA manual 2026-27 |
| Toastmasters Table Topics contest | None: the topic is given as you are introduced | Nobody | No devices for advantage | Toastmasters rulebook 2026-27 |
What you may bring into British Parliamentary prep
The World Universities Debating Council (n.d.) announces the motion and draw 15 minutes before debates begin. The two speakers of a team confer only with each other; help from coaches, others from their institution or judges can mean disqualification. The internet, generative AI for any purpose, and phones, laptops and tablets are all banned. You may ask the adjudication core, and only them, for the literal meaning of an unfamiliar word.
The manual says nothing either way about printed paper. A handout written for the Bard Debate Union, shared by McGill's debating union, says BP teams may prepare from printed material only (Register, n.d.). Local tournaments set their own rules, so ask before you pack a folder. A team not ready when the 15 minutes end can be replaced by a swing team and score nothing.
What World Schools and NSDA allow
World Schools impromptu prep is longer but just as closed: one hour, no handwritten, printed or published material beyond the two dictionaries and the one reference book, no device that can reach outside the room, and questions about the motion's wording only in the first 15 minutes (World Schools Debating Championships, 2026). The English-Speaking Union (n.d.) adds that every member of a squad of up to five may help in prep, though only three speak.
NSDA Extemporaneous Speaking is the opposite: prep is research. The manual allows uncut published articles marked only with citation information and, under its current guidelines, internet research at the National Tournament, but bans pre-written speeches and outlines and any help from another person (National Speech & Debate Association, 2026). Generative AI may point you to sources there, but you may not quote or paraphrase its text.
What should you do in 15 minutes of prep time?
Use 15 minutes in four blocks: think alone, agree, build, then write your opening lines. The table puts the coaching guides' advice on one clock; the minute ranges are ours, the steps are theirs.
| Minutes | What to do | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Read the motion and any info-slide in silence. Underline the words that decide the debate; note your most instinctive arguments | Manchester Debating Union |
| 2 to 3 | Compare instincts with your partner. If you disagree, take no more than a minute to choose | Manchester Debating Union |
| 3 to 5 | Name the actors, the problem the motion tries to solve and the motion type; decide whether it needs a model and what your side must prove | SEDA |
| 5 to 10 | Write each argument's links, step by step, in organised notes | Manchester Debating Union |
| 10 to 12 | Predict the other side's best arguments and write one answer to each | Manchester Debating Union |
| 12 to 14 | Check the case for contradictions and one central premise; split the material between you | SEDA; Bard Debate Union handout |
| 14 to 15 | Write your first two sentences and walk to the room | Ours |
Read the motion before you hunt for arguments
The Manchester Debating Union (n.d.) warns novices against firing out arguments the moment the motion appears. Think around it first: the news, who is involved, why the problem is unsolved. Setters choose every word on purpose, so the unusual word is a clue. The Saskatchewan Elocution and Debate Association (SEDA; n.d.) turns this into a list: the actors, words such as "should" that set a moral or practical burden, the themes, the problem, and every group affected beyond those named.
If an info-slide defines a term, the WUDC manual says that definition is not to be disputed, though you may add your own. Motion types and fair definitions are in how to write a debate case.
Decide, then write
The Manchester guide's advice is to be decisive, keep examples out of the discussion, and keep the pen moving: you will not remember the crucial links on your feet.
How does prep change with your position on the table?
Your seat decides what your team must produce. David Register's Bard Debate Union handout sets out each speaker's job, and the WUDC manual adds the rule for closing teams.
- Opening Government: the Prime Minister defines the motion, sets out any policy and a complete case, and signposts what the Deputy will add. Register (n.d.) advises the most obvious reading of the motion, not a clever one.
- Opening Opposition: you hear the model only when it is spoken, so prepare a case against the motion itself, and leave the Leader room to attack the model live.
- Closing teams: judges credit only what is exclusively new from a closing team, and a closing team must not contradict its own opening team, which the manual calls knifing (World Universities Debating Council, n.d.). Prepare several extensions: the opening team may run your best one first.
In World Schools, the first proposition speaker defines, outlines and allocates the case (English-Speaking Union, n.d.), so the hour should end with a written case division. What to do when the other side speaks is in how to rebut an argument.
A 15-minute prep sheet you can use
This prep sheet is ours. Copy the headings onto a page before every practice round and fill them in order.
- The motion, word for word, with the decisive words underlined.
- Our side and seat, and the job that seat carries.
- Motion type (policy, value or analysis), and whether it needs a model.
- Definitions, one line each, with anything excluded.
- Model: who acts, what changes, from when, and the exceptions.
- Burden: "We win if we show that..."
- Actors: everyone affected, and which side they help.
- Argument one: claim, each step of the mechanism, who is affected and how much.
- Argument two, built the same way.
- Their best two arguments, with our one-line answer to each.
- Who says what, between partners or across three speakers.
- Weighing: why we win even if some of their points land.
- First two sentences, written in full.
Write notes, not prose. Bailey (2013), in the NSDA's extemporaneous speaking textbook, advises abbreviations and symbols rather than full sentences in prep; our one exception is the opening, because nerves take the first sentence. Turning a sheet into cards is covered in how to write speaker notes.
A worked example: 15 minutes on a motion of our own
Our motion, for this guide only: This House would ban smartphones in secondary schools. We are Opening Government. Everything below is reasoning, not research, as BP prep requires.
Minutes 0 to 2, alone. The decisive words are "ban" (all day, or lessons only?) and "secondary". Actors: pupils, teachers, parents, school leaders, and pupils who need a phone for a medical reason or because they care for someone.
Minutes 2 to 3, together. Both partners' instinct is attention in lessons. The second argument: what a day away from the phone does to how pupils spend breaks with each other.
Minutes 3 to 5, model and burden. Phones are locked away from the start to the end of the school day, breaks included, with exceptions for medical need and young carers; parents reach pupils through the office. Burden: the ban does more good than harm, as schools would realistically enforce it.
Minutes 5 to 10, the arguments. One: a phone in a pocket competes with every lesson, and a teenager choosing not to look, lesson after lesson, has a harder job than a rule that removes the choice; teachers stop spending lessons on policing. Two: at break, pupils spend the time with the people in the room, and group chats cannot follow them through the school day. In a prepared round, both mechanisms would need published evidence.
Minutes 10 to 12, their best case. Contact in an emergency; learning self-control with the device, not without it; uneven enforcement. Our answers: the office line and the exceptions; lessons that teach self-control on school devices; a whole-school rule is more even than teacher-by-teacher confiscation.
Minutes 12 to 15, split and opening. Prime Minister: definitions, model, burden, argument one. Deputy: answers to the Leader of the Opposition, argument two, weighing. Our check: nothing on the sheet claims phones are harmful everywhere, a burden the motion does not set. First sentence: "This debate is about who decides whether a phone is in the classroom: a fourteen-year-old, fifty times a day, or the school, once."
How do you prepare for an impromptu speech?
Choose one position fast, state it at the start, and hang three points on it. How far you can go depends on the clock.
Seven minutes, or thirty
In NSDA Impromptu, the speaker picks one of three topics and has seven minutes for preparation and speech together, with no notes while speaking (National Speech & Debate Association, 2026), so most of the thinking happens while you talk. For Extemporaneous Speaking, Bailey (2013) advises spending about half of the 30 minutes on research and outlining and half on learning the outline and rehearsing, enough to run a seven-minute speech twice. You cannot learn a subject in prep, the book warns: reading done before the tournament is what frees prep for structure and delivery.
No prep at all: Table Topics
In a Toastmasters Table Topics contest, speakers hear the topic as they are introduced and must speak for one to two minutes; under one minute or over two minutes 30 seconds is disqualified (Toastmasters International, 2026). Toastmasters International (n.d.) presents it as practice in organising your thoughts quickly. Cox (2017), in Toastmasters' magazine, suggests buying time by repeating the question, going with the first small idea, stating an opinion at the start, and using three points to structure it.
How do you practise prep time between tournaments?
Practise under a shorter clock, and read widely in between. SEDA suggests drilling motions in 10 minutes, so you learn to recognise patterns, and the Manchester guide argues there is a ceiling on your arguments if you do not follow current affairs. Prepared motions and NSDA resolutions come out weeks ahead: that is when evidence is gathered, on both sides.
How EdCitation helps you prepare before the round
For that reading, EdCitation's Find sources is the best tool we know, because it searches the published record and returns real works, never a summary written from memory. It is free with no account, searches about 300 million published works by topic or by the claim a sentence needs to support, and filters by kind of source, years and open access.
We searched the topic "school mobile phone ban" on 27 September 2026. The record source was Crossref and the total was 1,571,858 works. Second in the list was "Social Media Use and Mental Health of Adolescents: A Prospective Study of the South Australian School Mobile Phone Ban", by Marcela Radunz and colleagues, 2025, in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, marked not retracted.
Searching the claim our example would need, "banning mobile phones in schools improves test scores", returned 1,688,713 works from Crossref, among them "Evidence for and against banning mobile phones in schools: A scoping review" (Campbell and colleagues, 2024). The top results pointed different ways: read the studies, not the headlines.
Cite a source, also free, builds each card's reference from its DOI in six styles and screens it for retraction, and Verify references checks a whole list before a tournament. What to say aloud when you quote a source is in how to cite sources in a speech or debate. EdCitation finds, cites and checks the evidence; the arguments you stand up with are yours.
Quick questions
How long is prep time in British Parliamentary debate?
Fifteen minutes from the motion's release, under the WUDC manual's 2027 edition, conferring only with your partner and with no internet, AI or devices.
Can you use notes or books in debate prep time?
It depends on the format. World Schools impromptu prep allows two dictionaries and one encyclopaedia or almanac; the WUDC manual bans devices but is silent on paper, so check the tournament's rules.
What should I do first when I get the motion?
Read it alone for a minute or two before talking. Find the words that decide the debate, the people it affects and what it asks you to prove.
How do you prepare an impromptu speech in two minutes?
Pick one position, say it in your first sentence, and back it with three short points. Repeating the question buys a few seconds.
Can EdCitation help me prepare for a debate?
Before the round, yes. EdCitation's free Find sources finds published evidence on both sides of a motion; it never writes any part of a speech or case.
References
- Bailey, J. (2013). Extemporaneous speaking: Engaging with current events. National Speech & Debate Association. https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Extemporaneous-Speaking-Textbook.pdf
- Cox, C. (2017, July). 10 tips for terrific Table Topics. Toastmaster. https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2017/july2017/tabletopics
- English-Speaking Union. (n.d.). Introduction to WSDC format. https://www.esu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Introduction-to-World-Schools-format-guide.pdf
- Manchester Debating Union. (n.d.). An introduction into British Parliamentary debating. SSMU Debating Union. https://debatingunion.ssmu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Introduction-to-British-Parliamentary-Debating.pdf
- National Speech & Debate Association. (2026). 2026-2027 high school unified manual (Version 2027.1.2). https://www.speechanddebate.org/high-school-unified-manual/
- Register, D. (n.d.). British Parliamentary (BP) debate [Handout created for the Bard Debate Union]. SSMU Debating Union. https://debatingunion.ssmu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/British-Parliamentary-Debate-Format.pdf
- Saskatchewan Elocution and Debate Association. (n.d.). Preparing for impromptu debates. https://saskdebate.ca/resources/resources-for-students/preparing-for-impromptu-debates
- Toastmasters International. (n.d.). Table Topics speaker. https://www.toastmasters.org/membership/club-meeting-roles/table-topics-speaker
- Toastmasters International. (2026). Speech contest rulebook: July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. https://content.toastmasters.org/image/upload/v1783463286/1171-speech-contest-rulebook.pdf
- World Schools Debating Championships. (2026). Tournament committee and debate rules (Updated August 2026). https://www.wsdcdebating.org/_files/ugd/669183_8ee4b95d4bf4409a893cc22e5f1f35b9.pdf
- World Universities Debating Council. (n.d.). Debating & judging manual (2027 ed., updated by the Ottawa WUDC 2027 adjudication panel). https://www.worlddebating.org/wudc-manual