V - Research and Evidence

Chapter V - Research and Evidence

It is essential that debaters provide support for the arguments they make.  The quality of the support you provide for your arguments is a key to successful debating.  One way to support your arguments is with logical reasoning.  In addition to reasoning, you will need to provide evidence to support your claims.  The focus of this chapter is how to gather, organize, and use evidence in debate.

Let's begin with the assumption that what we personally know is limited.  Very few high school students are experts on the topics they will be debating.  Therefore, debaters need to use outside sources of information to increase the credible support for their arguments.  Usually, debaters will quote directly from a variety of sources.

In preparation for a debate, you will want to gather evidence (quotes) that you feel will support arguments that you plan to make.  Because you will be unable to predict the exact arguments that will be made, it is good to have a variety of evidence quotes to use.

Finding evidence requires effective research.  You are probably already an experienced researcher.  Even so, you can probably improve your skills by reviewing the following steps in the research process.

 

Research Process

Step 1. Formulate research questions.  Before you begin any research, you should identify the questions you are trying to answer.  It is important to identify research questions rather than topics.  A question gives you a specific goal, whereas a topic is too open-ended. A good question is one that meets the following criteria:

·      The wording of the question is clear and specific

·      The question can be answered

·      The answer to the question is meaningful (i.e. the question leads somewhere important)

If you are new to a topic, adjust your questions accordingly.  You should begin by building general topic knowledge before trying to answer specific questions.  For example, let's say you are learning about Russia's economy.  As you begin your research, you may ask "What is the current status of Russia's economy?"  As your topic knowledge grows, your questions should be more in-depth: "What programs does Russia have to encourage foreign investment?"

Step 2. Select a Method.  There are a variety of ways to find answers to your questions.  Students

who try various sources usually find more success and end up with deeper research.  Some good methods include:

·      Article databases.  Your school library probably has several databases which are easily searchable.  You may also have access to more powerful databases like Lexis/Nexis. 

·      Specific Internet Sites.  You may know of specific sites on the Internet that have excellent resources on your topic.

·      General Internet searches.  If you don't know of a specific site that will be helpful, you may try a general Internet Search.  Google is a good place to start.

·      Printed materials in the library (most periodicals and newspapers can be found on-line.  However, you may find some very helpful printed materials that are not accessible on-loan.

·      Books (advantage: depth; disadvantage: time consuming)

·      Personal interviews (including e-mail requests for information)

Step 3.  Keep Trying.  Most likely, you won't succeed right away.  Research takes perseverance.  If you are not having any luck answering your questions, try new a different method, different key words, or ask for help.  Often, you will need to try several different key words before you get what you want.  Write down what you have tried and keep going.  If your question is "Who are the main contenders for the 2004 election (US)?"  try: presidential elections, 2004 election, candidates for presidency, presidential candidates, presidential hopefuls, etc.

Help falls under two categories: people who know what they are doing and shortcuts that others have created.  If you are new to a library, ask the librarian.  They will appreciate you having a focused research question.  As for shortcuts, check out bibliographies, names mentioned in articles, and references to other publications.

Step 4.  Have a system for recording your results.   Make sure you have the ability to take something away from your research.  Always have a notebook to jot down notes (good web sites, important names, leads for further research etc.).  Furthermore, make sure you are getting full source citations.  If you are printing or copying articles, it is a good idea to staple them together and write the full source citation on the top right away.  This will avoid confusion later. 

 

Making Evidence Cards

Once you have gathered and read the information necessary to answer your questions, it is time to transform your articles into evidence cards--a format that is easily used within a debate.  When you present evidence in a debate, you actually present three different pieces of information:  a tag, a citation, and the body of the evidence.  Each part is very important to effectively using the evidence in the debate.

As you read articles, you should look for passages that may be useful during your debates.  When you find such passages, follow this procedure for making evidence "cards."  The term card refers to a 4x6 index card.  Debaters used to write their evidence quotes down on index cards.  Today, some debaters still used index cards, but many also simply print their evidence on 8 ½ x 11 pages.

Step 1: Mark Useful Passages

As you read your articles, you should mark passages that you believe will make good evidence quotes.  The best way to mark passages is by putting brackets around the sentences that will be cut out and placed on index cards or paper.  Highlighting is problematic because it may be difficult to copy.  As you bracket the quotes you intend to use, you mat also want to make notes in the margin about what the main idea of the quote is.  This will make it easier when you go back to cut and paste.

 

Step 2: Cut & Paste

At one time, debate evidence was written out by hand or manually typed on cards.  Today, students find it most efficient to cut and paste from copies or computer printouts.  Some even copy text directly from electronic sources into word processing programs.  Regardless of the method, the idea remains the same, to transfer information from an article to a self-contained card or brief that can be filed.  In a way, the article is "harvested."  The useful parts are identified, picked, and stored.  The useless parts are recycled.  When students cut and paste, they should be conscious of future copying.  The text should be dark enough to copy and the paper should be firmly glued or taped down.

Some guidelines for bracketing:

·      Cut in context.  Make sure you do not alter the meaning of the article by omitting any important information.

·      Always cut full sentences.  Even if you do not intend to read it, have full sentences on your final product.

·      A good evidence card is usually 3-7 sentences long.  Cards that are too short lack credibility and reasoning.  Cards that are too long are not useful because they are too time consuming and usually bore the judge to tears.

Step 3:  Source Citation & Tag

The excerpt alone is not complete without a source citation and tag.  For printed materials a full source citation consists of:

·      Author

·      Author's Qualifications

·      Publication (name of periodical, book, or report)

·      Date of Publication

·      Page Number(s)

For electronic sources (like Internet sites), the full citation consists of:

·      Author

·      Author's Qualifications

·      Publication

·      Date of Publication

·      Name of Computer Service or Network (i.e. Nexis, SIRs, or www address)

If any of this information is not available, the student should make a note.  For example, NQA is often used to signify No Qualifications Available.  If the information is available, the student has an obligation to correctly provide it with each evidence excerpt.

A tag is like a headline for the excerpt.  It should summarize the main idea of the passage using powerful language and a minimum of words (ideally five or less).  The tag should not exaggerate the quality of the information it represents.  The tag serves two main purposes.  First, it allows students to know the contents of a particular piece of evidence at a glance.  Second, the tag is often written during a debate in a competitor's notes.  It represents the content of the evidence and therefore needs to be accurate and concise (so that it can be easily written).

Step 4:  Organize Your Evidence

Much of a debate is spontaneous.  As one side makes an argument, the other side thinks quickly of responses and counter-arguments.  These responses most often require evidence.  A debater must quickly find the necessary evidence in his or her files.  Typically, evidence is sorted two ways.  First, the student decides whether it is affirmative, negative, or both.  Of course, some evidence may be useful for both sides depending on the specific argument.  If possible, the debater should label the evidence aff. for affirmative and neg. for negative. 

Secondly, the evidence is sorted by topic.  These files will be alphabetized or otherwise grouped.  When a student needs evidence on a topic, he or she will quickly go to the appropriate file and pull out what has been prepared.

 

The following is an Evidence Card checklist that you can use to evaluate your work.  Does your evidence measure up to the following criteria?

Evidence Checklist

What makes an excerpt a good piece of evidence?

_____ Relevance: The excerpt says something that may be useful in a debate.  That is, it supports an argument that a you may make.

_____ Authoritative:  It is from an expert, cites a credible study, or gives strong reasoning or data to support the argument.  It should also be free from excessive bias.

_____  Presentability:  Is the excerpt short enough so that it can be read in a debate?  Because the evidence is read verbatim during the debate, an ideal passage communicates the idea with a minimum of words (usually 3 to 7 sentences).

_____ In Context:  An excerpt should never alter the meaning the author intends.  Any qualifiers should be included.  Additionally, statements the author goes on to disagree with should not be represented as the author's view.

What is included in a full source citation?

For printed sources, the full citation consists of:

_____ Author

_____ Author's Qualifications

_____ Publication (name of periodical, book, or report)

_____ Date of Publication

_____ Page Number(s)

 

For electronic sources (like Internet sites), the full citation consists of:

_____ Author

_____ Author's Qualifications

_____ Publication (name of periodical, book, or report)

_____ Date of Publication

_____ Name of Computer Service or Network (e.g.  Nexis, SIRs, or www address)

 

What makes a good tag (headline) for a piece of evidence?

_____ Summarizes the main idea of the excerpt accurately

_____ Uses powerful and descriptive language

_____ Is six words or less

Sample Evidence Card

 

 

Please Notice:

·      The tag summarizes the content of the evidence quote in a minimum number of words

·      A complete source citation is given

·      The text of the evidence is copied exactly from the original source

Conclusion 

The process of accumulating evidence might seem complicated, with all the rules about tags and citations and cutting and pasting.  Now is a good time to return to basics.  Preparing evidence for use in a debate round simply means finding useful quotes, writing down a summary of what the quote says, and writing down where the quote is from.  Because beginning debaters often struggle with the details of this process, this chapter goes into detail to help you get it right the first time.