Research and Casework

How to Research 

Obviously, when conducting research you want to make sure the author has accreditations, that the source is reputable, and that the article itself is as free from bias as possible. It’s illogical to believe a source talking about climate change from an accountant who’s never once studied climate change.

Access to a library or academic database is especially helpful. Knowing that an article is reputable and from a recognized author boosts the evidence that you choose to read. For example, databases like Google Scholar is great for finding generic articles about a specific topic, whilst Jstor is good for philosophy based articles and more abstract/deep thought based pieces of literature. Databases like these can be expensive, but many public libraries have access to them on their computers, so be sure to take advantage! 

What should I research for? 

When it is the affirmative or negative turn to make their speech, they deliver what the LD community calls a “case.” Cases generally follow a continuous flow of uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact. Although we’ll provide a brief explanation here, we highly recommend that you check out the “How a Round Works” guide for more information!  

• Uniqueness (UQ): The uniqueness is an analysis of the current world, describing and painting a picture of what is actively happening right now in reference to the resolution. 

• Link (L): The link links the uniqueness to the impact, for example, by explaining how something will get better, get worse, not change, etc. 

• Internal Link (I/L): Though often invisible, implied, or chalked up to common knowledge, the internal link is a link between the link and the impact.

• Impact (IMP): The impact is why your argument actually matters, or what will happen as a result of affirmation or negation. For example, common impacts include climate change getting worse/better, the economy imploding/booming, war will break out/war will cease, etc.

Below is a basic example of the parts of a case (based on the November/December LD resolution) :

• Uniqueness: In the current world, animals are dying at a record rate, with many facing extinction. 

• Link: By rewilding substantial tracts of land, the United States can bolster ecosystems by encouraging growth and reducing human pollutants. 

• Internal Link: By boosting ecosystems, more animals will be able to live and less will end up dying.

• Impact: More animals and better ecosystems mean more biodiversity, more food, and a better environment. 

How to Cut a Card 

In order to create cases, debaters use “cards.” The act of creating a card is called “card cutting.” A card is the most efficient way to read out evidence in a debate round. As per NSDA rules, all debate cases must feature the following: 

• For oral (spoken) citations, “primary author(s)’ name (last) and year of publication” 

• For written citations, “To the extent provided by the original source: Full name of primary author and/or editor, Publication date, Source, Title of article, Date accessed for digital evidence, Full URL, if applicable, Author qualifications, Page number(s).”

So, given that debaters must abide by all these rules or risk immediately losing the debate if found in violation, the community has created what is known as a “card,” in an attempt to read evidence as efficiently as possible whilst still abiding by the rules. 

Below is an example of a card, with its different components listed in different colors. 

The current inflation rate is too high for consumers.

Lam-Balfour 24 [Tiffany Lam-Balfour, investing writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet. Previously, she was a senior financial advisor and sales manager at Merrill Lynch, work has been featured in MSN, MarketWatch, Entrepreneur, Nasdaq and Yahoo Finance. Michael Randall, Michael Randall, CFP®, EA senior wealth advisor at Myers Financial Group, a fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm based in San Diego. "The Current Inflation Rate is 3.0%. Here’s Why It Matters", 07/11/2024, NerdWallet, https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/inflation#:~:text=A%203.0%25%20inflation%20rate%20may,stubbornly%20high%20housing%20costs%20persist.] CCC

The current U.S. inflation rate is 3.0% for the 12-month period leading up to June 2024. The consumer price index (CPI), which measures changes in prices, fell 0.1% in June after remaining the same in May, according to the latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

[1]The BLS notes that the declines in gasoline and energy prices offset a rise in the shelter index. The next monthly update will be released on Wednesday, August 14, 2024. A 3.0% inflation rate may not seem like a lot, or as much as the price changes you've noticed at the grocery store. But to put inflation in context over the last few years, consumer price inflation rose 21.78% between January 2020 and June 2024, and stubbornly high housing costs persist.

This is an average of 4.84% over the last 4 and a half years.

Let’s take a look at the parts of a card: 

• Tagline: The tagline is read out loud. It gives a general synapsis of what my card will be, and helps to maintain clarity and a logical flow for the entirety of the case. 

• Author and Date: If you recall from above, all oral citations must include the author’s last name and the year of their article’s publication. Thus, we read out loud the author and date portion of the card, which in this case, is “Lam-Balfour 24.” 

• The []: The brackets contain all of the information that we do not have to read out loud, but must still be present in our card as per the NSDA written citation rules. It includes the full author name, author qualifications, the editor and his qualifications, the title of the article, the exact date of publication, the publisher, and the URL to the article. Had this article been a book, I would include both the URL and the page numbers of the book, assuming I don’t own a physical copy that I’d take to my tournament. 

• The card signature: This is an optional piece that some debaters include at the end of their card to authenticate that it’s theirs. The signature can be anything from your first name to your school code or debate code. I personally use my initials. 

• The card body: This is the meat and potatoes of our card. It includes the full text of the article, although for this example I only included the top text of the article for spacing purposes. When we read from the body of a card, you read only the highlighted evidence. Any evidence that is irrelevant to your card can be shrunken down, but MAY NOT be deleted (this will result in evidence violations.) Sometimes, there’s parts of an article that I may need, say, for cross or rebuttal, but I don’t necessarily need it to be read in my constructive. In this case, I can leave the evidence either underlined or underlined and bolded. The way you decide what fits this criteria is up to you, but generally, for me, I’ll do one of these depending on how important the piece of evidence is. If I think it’s something I’ll for sure need in a rebuttal or cross, I’ll bold it. If not, I’ll just underline it. 

• A whole separate guide on Verbatim will be published later, so stay tuned!

An easy way to cut a card is by using the “Collage- Debate Card Cutter and Library”

1. On chrome install the extension Collage. This extension will auto format your cards!

2. After you get Collage, pin it to your extensions and click on it.

3. It should open to something called the “card library,” which looks something like this (yours will be blank):

4. Go to the website you want to cut your card from.

5. Highlight all the text on that website by left clicking and dragging on the text, as if you were going to copy the article. Leave the text highlighted.

6. Click on the pinned Collage tab on the top right of your screen. It’ll open a pop-up that looks like this:

7. Click generate cite and generate text and fix any information that appears to be off. (ie. wrong date, different publisher, etc.)

8. Click submit and then go to your card library.

9. Now, the uncut card should appear in your card library. Cut the card according to this formula:

1. Highlight the text you wish to cut. 

2. Press the following key combinations:

Small text (alt + 1)

Normal underlined text (alt + 2 and alt + 3): 

Normal underlined and bolded text (alt + 2 and alt + 3 and alt + 4): 

Highlighted text (alt+6): 

• Similar tools like Collage exist, like Verbatim for Microsoft Word, and auto citers you can find in the general extension store, like Cite Creator, and Modern Cite Creator. While these auto citers don’t do all of the work, it helps a lot when adding citations!