1NC

The 1NC, or First Negative Constructive, is the second speech in a Team Policy debate round, and the first speech given by the Negative team. As with the other constructive speeches, it lasts eight minutes and is followed by a three-minute cross-examination.

Contents and coverage
By convention, topicality arguments and counterplans are almost always raised in the 1NC. Other arguments vary widely. There are four main ways of arranging the 1NC, each of which has strong proponents:


 * Shell-and-extend: All major Negative arguments are presented in "shell" form in the 1NC. Later speeches "extend" these arguments, but do not generally introduce new lines of argumentation.


 * Splitting the block: The 1NC focuses on "off-case" arguments (those not directly responding to points in the 1AC, like disadvantages) while the 2NC focuses on "on-case" arguments (those directly responding to points in the 1AC, like mitigating harms or solvency.) This keeps the Affirmative from defending the minutiae of their plan until the 1AR.


 * The Emory switch: The reverse of splitting the block - the 1NC focuses on "on-case" arguments, while the 2NC focuses on "off-case" arguments. This keeps the Affirmative from responding to major disadvantages until the 1AR.


 * On the fly: Arguments are presented in arbitrary order, based on who wants to present each argument, when each argument is thought of, or a more complex ordering strategy. In practice, most debaters use on-the-fly ordering to some degree, even if they follow one of the above structures.

Before the 1NC, the second Negative speaker cross-examines the first Affirmative speaker. The Negative may use this cross-examination to set up arguments for the 1NC.