This document provides an introduction to the concepts and structure of a debate. It explains that debates involve three main forms of persuasion: logos or reason, ethos or credibility, and pathos or emotion. It also outlines the basic rules of persuasion as convincing others through their own interests and making a claim supported by evidence and reasoning. The document describes a sample debate resolution and the roles of the affirmative and negative sides. It provides the structure of a policy debate, which involves two-person teams debating a resolution through a series of 5-minute speeches and cross-examinations. Students are assigned to write a 5-minute speech for the debate as well as a paper with MLA citations on their speech topic.