Ethos

Ethos was a Team Policy sourcebook started in 2005 by Isaiah McPeak and Lisa Alexander, both policy analysts. Although access to the sourcebook was initially restricted to a handful of debaters, Ethos quickly gained popularity and is now considered one of the three "giants" who dominate the NCFCA/Stoa sourcebook market.

Originally, Ethos was created because its authors were concerned about the direction that home school debate was headed. According to the Ethos website, "people were using pop websites and journalists to create debate cases, and spinning this easy-to-find information as good debate." The sourcebook was a direct response to this concern, and aimed to provide the most credible, thoughtful, and often hard to find information.

Evolution of the name
In its first edition, the sourcebook was called "Purple Killer Bunnies" and featured cover art of a clawed mafia bunny in a top hat. In 2008, the name was changed to "Ethos Sourcebook". Its name changed again to "Práxis" when the company released a new Lincoln Douglas sourcebook, which was christened "Axía". Since the company's name "Ethos" is Greek for "credibility" or "character," it seemed natural to pick a Greek name for the new sourcebooks.

Formatting and role in CITE
For many years, formatting was seen as a weak point of Ethos. In the 2010 Sourcebook Survey conducted by Daniel Gaskell, formatting was the only category for which Ethos was not in the top statistical bracket; it took 4th place, below COG, Blue Book and QuickStart.

In 2012, new editor Elijah Schow created a standard template file to improve visual consistency and usability. This system later became the basis for CITE, a briefwriting standard promoting the use of time-saving automation techniques. Both COG and Ethos's Team Policy sourcebook will use this standard in their 2013-2014 editions.