Beginner High School Curriculum Guide

Asking (and Answering) Cross-Examination Questions

You and your partner should use the notes from your flow sheets to come up with good cross-examination questions. Who gets to ask the questions? Let’s revisit the chart from earlier:

If you notice the pattern, it’s always the speaker who isn’t going to speak next. Sometimes your partner can help you out during cross-examination, and that’s called tag-teaming. If you want to tag-team, make sure to ask the judge if they’re okay with it first!

Asking Questions

Two minutes isn’t a lot of time. To make the most of it, you should:

• Ask questions that strengthen the arguments you’re going to make later in the round.

• Ask specific questions about your opponents’ arguments.

• Give your opponent time to answer.

And to avoid wasting your cross-examination time, you should not

• Ask questions about the topic in general or for general definitions.

• Interrupt your opponent when they’re answering your question.

• Ask open-ended questions.

• Ask too many clarification questions.

Answering Questions

To answer your opponents’ questions about your speech well, you should:

• Be confident (but not rude) when answering questions.

• Pay attention to your opponents’ question and try to answer it as well as you can.

• Make connections between the question and what you’ve said in your speech.

• Ask for clarification if you aren’t sure what the other team is asking about.

And to avoid wasting your cross-examination time, you should not:

• Get distracted while the other team is asking their question.

• Give up because you aren’t sure what the best answer is – try giving a summary of your arguments or try to find an answer in your evidence.

• Say nothing because you aren’t sure what your opponent is asking.

• Say something rude to your opponent because you are stumped.

NEXT: DEBATE GLOSSARY