1AR Theory
1AR Theory is, as per the name, theory read in the 1ar. Common examples include conditionality bad, plan inclusive counterplans bad, affirmative choice of framework, etc. 1AR theory is strategic because it gives the aff a new out that the 2nr has to spent a significant chunk on to match the 3 minute 2ar. However, sometimes 1ar theory is used too much, which results in the aff losing a substantive layer that could have been won. Even when 1ars go for theory, they should always have a substantive out to fall back on mainly because theory debates are often techy and the 6 minute 2nr obviously gets an advantage–if they doubled down on paradigm issues or did very good line by line, the 2ar would have a very hard time if they were forced into going for theory. To prevent 1ar theory, debaters have read a “theory hedge,” which is a prewritten block in the 1NC for why affs don’t get 1ar theory, it’s drop the argument, etc to pre-empt the 1ar. These are often strategic and deter many debaters from reading 1ar theory. However, affs also do a similar thing in the 1ac, where they justify why they do get 1ar theory, it’s drop the debater, etc so that if conceded, they don’t have to justify paradigm issues in the 1ar. Often, shells are very similar so negs can cross apply arguments from one shell to another. For this reason, reading too many shells is not very strategic, but reading the right amount and allocating time properly can make 1ar theory one of the most powerful arguments in debate. The last distinction to make is between paragraph theory and “traditional” theory. Paragraph theory, often accepted in 1ars due to the time crunch, is where debaters, as per the name, read theory as a paragraph, whereas traditional theory is where they read it in the official format (interpretation, violation, standards, voters). Some judges have preferences for one or the other, so it is important to be ready to read both forms in the 1ar. An example to clarify the distinction is given below–disclaimer: these shells are underdeveloped and solely meant to get a point across–woul not recommend actually reading these.
PARAGRAPH: PICs are a voting issue–moots the entirety of the 1ac forcing a 1ar restart.
TRADITIONAL: Interp–The negative must not read plan inclusive counterplans Violation–they do Standards– 1–Strat skew–they moot the entirety of the 1ac forcing a 1ar restart 2–Predictability–can’t predict infinite exceptions