Three Research Tips from Top Debaters
This may seem obvious, but consistently taking notes as you read, watch, or listen to sources, is key to effective and efficient research. Even just underlining or highlighting keywords and phrases significantly improves your ability to remember new information, and remember key concepts to come back to later on.
Even more importantly, notetaking helps you remember where the best information is within a text or other resource. That helps you save time later on, and helps you provide others with convenient references, as well as allowing others to verify your claims about what you’ve learned.
Competitive debate is one of the best ways to develop your note taking skills, from fast-paced impromptu styles like British Parliamentary (BP) to evidence-based and partially scripted formats like Public Forum. Both styles require debaters to quickly decide what ideas and details to focus on and which to ignore or minimize. When it comes to research projects, it’s never too early to look for a specific, focused research question or niche.
Take Notes As You Go
Look At The Big Picture, Then Dig Deep
It’s intimidating when you don’t know the broad outlines of a topicGeneral Definition: The central premise being debated, often called the "Motion" or "Resolution". • Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where "Resolution" is used instead. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Motion" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Motion" is used instead.. • Canadian National Debate More. Getting a bird’s eye view is crucial. Without context you can’t tell key details apart from unnecessary filler. You might also find the topicGeneral Definition: The central premise being debated, often called the "Motion" or "Resolution". • Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where "Resolution" is used instead. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Motion" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Motion" is used instead.. • Canadian National Debate More connects with something you’re already interested in.
Wikipedia isn’t a bad place to start, but online versions of the Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, often have much more detailed articles with stronger standards of evidenceGeneral Definition: In debate, a supporting argument for why a claim is true, including examples, logic, studies, data, or expert opinion. Evidence may also refer to research in prepped debates. See also "Justification" and "Warrant". Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: In WSD, research is not prioritized as much as analysis in "Prepared Motions", and is not allowed at More and editing. Once you’ve gotten familiar with the topicGeneral Definition: The central premise being debated, often called the "Motion" or "Resolution". • Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where "Resolution" is used instead. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Motion" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Motion" is used instead.. • Canadian National Debate More, start narrowing your research by choosing a research question.
Don’t worry about coming up with an “original” question that nobody’s written about before; chances are there’s been at least a couple of books or academic articles written that cover similar ground. That’s a good thing though, since it’s a sign you’ ve asked an interesting question, and you’ll have plenty of sources to work with.
Even after you’ve finished most of your research, and are close to finishing your essay or debate case, it’s always a good idea to take a break from your narrowed research question or highly detailed evidenceGeneral Definition: In debate, a supporting argument for why a claim is true, including examples, logic, studies, data, or expert opinion. Evidence may also refer to research in prepped debates. See also "Justification" and "Warrant". Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: In WSD, research is not prioritized as much as analysis in "Prepared Motions", and is not allowed at More, and look at the broad themes of the topicGeneral Definition: The central premise being debated, often called the "Motion" or "Resolution". • Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where "Resolution" is used instead. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Motion" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Motion" is used instead.. • Canadian National Debate More again. That’ll let you put your specific arguments in their proper context as well as ensuring you don’t miss out on interesting connections.
Many people find introductions and conclusions the most difficult sections to write in any format, from debate speeches to book reports. Deliberately moving from broad themes to narrower details, and back to the big picture again, often helps you make connections and see themes in a much clearer way.
Think Like A Detective
Debaters have to be skeptical about everything, since experienced debaters can sound confident and passionate about arguments they don’t even believe themselves. Developing a skeptical attitude helps debaters see through their opponent’s rhetoric and confidence in the middle of a round, and the same skills can be applied to prepared debate cases, essays, and any other research project. Detectives and investigative journalists use similar skills.
There are two research habits that debaters develop which, when used together, can help find weaknesses and opportunities in even the most confidently delivered arguments and seemingly authoritative articles. The first habit is to find out the background of whoever’s work you’re using as a sourceGeneral Definition: The person, persons, or organization responsible for writing evidence used in debate. Source analysis includes discussion of their credibility, bias, and epistemology. • Public Forum: see general definition. • World Schools Debate: In WSD, sources may only be used for prepared motions and should be used largely to provide examples and context for arguments. • British Parliamentary: Not More.
For example, let’s say you’re reading an opinion article in the Washington Post about the pros or cons of increased unionization in the tech industry. You may agree or disagree with the author, but if all you do is read their article and then move on, you’re missing out on some very important context. Even a quick research detour into the Washington Post itself would tell you that the paper has been owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest person in the world, since 2013. That fact alone doesn’t mean you should dismiss anything about unions or tech companies that you read in the Washington Post, but it does help you recognize patterns in how the paper reports on those issues.
Understanding the incentives and motivations of the authors and organizations whose work you’re reading for research is the only way to separate credible sources from questionable ones. It’s also useful to familiarize yourself with the biases of media outlets, think tanks, and other organizations that often get cited in prepared debate cases. Whether you’re in a fast-paced debate round in Public Forum styleGeneral Definition: How one delivers speeches, including techniques like tone, pitch, rate, facial expressions, gestures, volume, eye contact, word choice, etc. • Public Forum: Commonly used. In PF, style is typically evaluated as part of a debater's "Speaker Points", although it may influence the judge's perception of their arguments as well. • World Schools Debate: Commonly used. In WSD, this More, or racing to finish a research assignment, learning to quickly assess the biases and motives of your sources is key.
The second habit is to compare multiple sources against each other. Detectives and journalists always try to get multiple versions of a story from different witnesses or suspects, so they can compare details from each version. Sometimes an author’s bias is clear from their personal background, or the arguments they make, but it becomes much clearer once you compare multiple articles from different authors and organizations.
In the early stages of research, when you’re trying to get familiar with the topicGeneral Definition: The central premise being debated, often called the "Motion" or "Resolution". • Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where "Resolution" is used instead. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Motion" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Motion" is used instead.. • Canadian National Debate More, comparing-and-contrasting sources gives you a broad view of key issues, rather than letting one sourceGeneral Definition: The person, persons, or organization responsible for writing evidence used in debate. Source analysis includes discussion of their credibility, bias, and epistemology. • Public Forum: see general definition. • World Schools Debate: In WSD, sources may only be used for prepared motions and should be used largely to provide examples and context for arguments. • British Parliamentary: Not More limit your viewpoint to their own. It also helps in the later stages, when you’re integrating evidenceGeneral Definition: In debate, a supporting argument for why a claim is true, including examples, logic, studies, data, or expert opinion. Evidence may also refer to research in prepped debates. See also "Justification" and "Warrant". Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: In WSD, research is not prioritized as much as analysis in "Prepared Motions", and is not allowed at More from your sources into arguments.
One trick for writing strong arguments in debates, essays, and undercover investigations alike is to always have more than one logical linkGeneral Definition: The specific connection or relationship between one event and another. In debate, links establish causality between the resolution and its impacts. See also "Mechanism". • Public Forum: see general definition. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Mechanism" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Mechanism" is used instead. More and multiple pieces of evidenceGeneral Definition: In debate, a supporting argument for why a claim is true, including examples, logic, studies, data, or expert opinion. Evidence may also refer to research in prepped debates. See also "Justification" and "Warrant". Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: In WSD, research is not prioritized as much as analysis in "Prepared Motions", and is not allowed at More to support each point in your case. That way, your opponents have to refute each independent subpoint and example. It also greatly increases the likelihoodGeneral Definition: A form of impact weighing that analyzes the probability of an impact to occur. See also "Probability". • Public Forum: In PF, likelihood is developed through both the specificity of examples or analysis, as well as statistical analysis drawn from expert research. • World Schools Debate: In WSD, likelihood is developed through the specificity of examples or analysis. More that you’ll convince the judge. If one linkGeneral Definition: The specific connection or relationship between one event and another. In debate, links establish causality between the resolution and its impacts. See also "Mechanism". • Public Forum: see general definition. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Mechanism" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Mechanism" is used instead. More gets refuted, or the judge doesn’t find a piece of evidenceGeneral Definition: In debate, a supporting argument for why a claim is true, including examples, logic, studies, data, or expert opinion. Evidence may also refer to research in prepped debates. See also "Justification" and "Warrant". Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: In WSD, research is not prioritized as much as analysis in "Prepared Motions", and is not allowed at More as persuasive as you did, they’ll probably be convinced by the second or third ones.
Finally, don’t just use the first few sources that a search engine like Google shows you. In the same way that any media organziation or think tank has it’s own biases and agendas to push, platforms and search tools like Google do too. So try refining your search terms as you learn more about your topicGeneral Definition: The central premise being debated, often called the "Motion" or "Resolution". • Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where "Resolution" is used instead. • World Schools Debate: Not a common phrase in WSD, where "Motion" is used instead. • British Parliamentary: Not a common phrase in BP, where "Motion" is used instead.. • Canadian National Debate More, and never rely on “trending” or “promoted” contentGeneral Definition: The substantive aspects of an argument; the "Warrants". This is distinct from the stylistic delivery of a speech. Public Forum: In PF, judges vary on how they weigh substantive versus stylistic aspects of the debate, although they should focus on argument quality and engagement, with weak arguments penalized and strong arguments rewarded. Debaters should ask the judge about this More.
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