Writing Your Reason for Decision

The reason for decision — the RFD — is the part of your ballot that a school will actually read. It is required, and the ballot will not submit without one.

What it is for

Two audiences read it:

• The students, who want to know why they lost and what to do differently.
• The tab team, who need to defend the result if a school questions it.

A result with no reasoning behind it is a result that cannot be defended.

What a good RFD does

Say who won and on what. Name the issue that decided it, not a general impression.

Opposition won because the harm they identified in the second half — that the policy removes an appeal route — went unanswered. Proposition’s rebuttal addressed cost instead, which was never the strongest part of the case.

Be specific about the debate that happened. Refer to arguments actually made, in the order they were made.

Give something actionable. “Be more persuasive” is not usable. “Your third speaker spent two minutes re-explaining the model instead of rebutting” is.

What to avoid

Also avoid:

• Restating the whole debate. They were there. Say what decided it.
• Judging the motion instead of the debating. Your view of the topic is not the point.
• Contradicting your own scores. If the RFD praises Opposition throughout but the marks favour Proposition, one of them is wrong.

Length

There is a minimum, but treat it as a floor rather than a target. Two or three sentences that name the deciding issue beat a page of narration.

Speaker comments

Alongside the RFD you can leave a short comment per speaker. These reach that student directly and feed their performance history, so they are worth the extra minute — particularly for a speaker who did something well that the team result does not reflect.

Fact-checking and bias assistance

iRank can check a claim made in the debate, and can review your written feedback for language that reads as biased. Both are assistants, not authorities: they inform your judgment and never change your marks.