Transcript Research Basics - Amazon Web Services

BASICS OF
CUTTING GOOD
CARDS
WHY RESEARCH?
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Research wins debates. It feels great to win on an argument that
you have written. You will understand it really well, you will know
exactly where all of the cards are and you will be able to predict
what the other team will read against you. That level of
preparation translates into calm confidence that will win debates!
Researching is a responsibility of every team member. You can
always decline an assignment to focus on school or family but
consistently avoiding work impacts your travel priority.
Research takes practice. There is a learning curve. Over time, you
will know what databases or searches to use and what types of
cards are the most useful. Do not be surprised if you have trouble
at first.
Regular work is the key to success. Get in the habit of doing small
amounts of debate work on a regular schedule. You will feel
prepared and will generate an impressive amount of work. Even
five hours a week will really add up.
WHEN DO YOU NEED A CARD?
Your previous experience with research was
probably a teacher telling you that you had to
have X number of sources for your grade. I
want you to think about WHY and WHEN you
actually need a source to support your
arguments.
 Arguments need support from expert sources
when we want to borrow credibility that we do
not have.
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WHAT MAKES A SOURCE WORTH QUOTING?
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Official qualifications
Experience in the field
Recent if the information
required may have
changed
High quality publisher
Information used in
context
Free from bias (having a
strong opinion is fine
though)
Supported by other
research
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Unclear or poor
qualifications
Unclear author
Out-dated information
Blog or other random
internet source
Information warped to fit
your purpose
Someone who has an
incentive to misrepresent
the truth
Fringe opinion
TOP EXCUSES FOR HAVING A BAD SOURCE
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Do NOT use these. 
 The
web page looked/sounded really good.
 The web page cited other people who look
qualified.
 I know that there were qualifications but I went
back to find them and the web page seemed to
have shut down.
 This source had a familiar name.
 My dog ate my qualifications.
HOW TO FIND DECENT SOURCES
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It depends on what you are looking for:
Current events: Lexis database (via library) or Google
News (which is awesome but also contains some
garbage)
 In depth articles: Library databases, books
 Ask librarians or Mrs. Heidt for help
 Side note: You may NOT use Wikipedia—fun general
reading and often OK but not an acceptable academic
source. Consider yourself warned. Similarly, you may
not quote from e-mails or blogs written by debaters.
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COMPUTERS!
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Cards got their name because evidence used to be cut
out and pasted down in actual recipe cards.
Then, debaters moved to cutting and pasting onto paper
“briefs.”
Now, we do everything electronically. All files need to be
placed into a Word document and e-mailed in. If you
find a passage in a book that you need, either scan and
OCR or type it in. Why? It is much easier to edit blocks
if they are electronic.
We will also help you to create a Word template that
allows you to automatically create block titles etc.
WHAT MAKE A GOOD CARD?
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No factoids. Cut cards that have specific uses in rounds,
not random bits of information. Always ask yourself
“how is this card going to be useful in the round?”
Quality is all that matters. Assume 2 things:
 The other team will have a good card that says the
opposite and yours needs to be better.
 The judge is calling for the card.
Fewer repetitive cards. No more than four pages of the
evidence making the same argument.
Never cut evidence that is out of context. If an author
later disagrees with the claim in a card that you have
cut from them, it is out of context. Ask yourself—would
the author agree with this tag? Not the whole position
necessarily but the tag? If there is any question, ask a
coach, DO NOT turn it out to the team.
WHAT MAKE A GOOD CARD?
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Recent evidence helps.
Never cut evidence off of a debate list-serve, a private e-mail or a
debate related blog. Some teams do this, it is cheating and will
hurt our reputation.
Qualified evidence is better. Staff writers are OK for uniqueness
evidence and maybe some other simple claims but better qualified
evidence wins more debates.
Cut cards that are too long, not too short. Ways to ensure that
your evidence represents complete ideas (and therefore
arguments) include the following:
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One sentence cards are useless because they have no
reasoning.
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NEVER begin or cut off a card mid-sentence.
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Do not cut cards that start with “however” or “but.” Include the
above paragraph or sentence so that your evidence represents
a complete idea.
CITATIONS
Complete and accurate.
 Full name of the author, complete date,
qualifications (may need to Google these), title
of publication, page number if available, cut
and paste web address, note database.
 Format: Last name, date in BOLD (rest in
parenthesis).
 ALWAYS collect cites as you go, never plan to
go back and get them later.
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TAGGING
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Use strong language—If the author makes a good argument,
maximize the usefulness of the evidence with a strongly
worded tag. This is accomplished by:
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Avoiding vague words like “good,” “equals,” “bad,” or “very.” Use
more specific language. “Very bad” should be replaced by “10
million deaths” etc.
Never state a passive relationship between two things, such as “X
and Y are both happening.” Such passive relationships are not
useful in debate; re-tag it to say “X causes Y” or “X prevents,
increases or decreases Y.”
Stay away from debate jargon. A little is OK, especially with
affirmative DA answers, but tags that are more story-oriented will do
more to catch the judge’s attention.
Do not over-tag—For instance, if your evidence says a
disease will impact 10% of the population, do not tag the
evidence to claim extinction.
Shorter tags are usually better.
COMPLETE FILES
Does your file represent a strategy?
 Have you scouted other teams for cites and
arguments commonly made against your file?
Do you have those issues covered?
 Have you scouted other teams for good cards
that should be part of our file?
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BLOCKS
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Make indexes easy to use. Indexes should have clearly labeled
sections. For example: a DA could be organized into uniqueness,
links, internal links, impacts and answers to aff answers.
Remember the header. Imitate other varsity files.
Clear block titles.
Use a uniform font. Control-A (select all) is your friend, Times
New Roman 10 pt looks good. Tailor it a little yourself if you like
but make sure that it is uniform and easy to read.
Underline ahead of time. Do not waste everyone’s prep by
making the whole squad underline when you could do it once for
everyone.
Organize the cards from best to worst. People will naturally read
what is on the top of the page so put the best ones up there.
Eliminate extra returns. It saves paper and looks nicer.
BLOCKS
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Make sure that all of the cards on the block fit
under the block title. No random cards stuck at
the bottom please. If you have evidence that is not
even worth its own title, throw it out.
Do not cut off cards in the middle unless the card
itself is more than 1 page long.
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If you simply have multiple cards on a page, use a page
break to keep them intact.
If a card is a 2 page card, clearly write continues on the
bottom of page 1 and the top of page 2. Also, put the
cite again on the bottom of page 2 just in case you get
things shuffled around.
SENDING IN FILES
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Send files to a g-mail account. It will be very
handy because it can be searched for
content.
Title Word docs something obvious like
“Wind 1AC” so that you can find it when you
search. “Print now” or “Ellis rules” will not
be helpful when someone wants the cards.