Here is how to do
your policy research all electronically.
Benefits:
1. You can quickly print your files anywhere you have your computer
2. You can reorganize files more easily
3. You can see all of the files you have just by looking in your file manager/windows
explorer
4. The process is quicker; editing and setting up table of contents for the
briefs is much quicker
5. Usually printing on your own laser printer is cheaper than using a
photocopier
6. You can read your briefs from a computer and thereby reduce the size of
your tubs and reduce the cost and waste of paper
How to do the briefs electronically
Step by step process of doing the briefs
What about materials that aren't online?
Easy, just scan them.
1. Do NOT write on the page you want to scan (it will screw up the scanning
process)
2. Scan the page(s) you want using an OCR program. Usually this involves
opening the program, selecting scan to OCR, and then selecting the text you
want to use for your evidence. It should scan in and go right to MS Word or you
select the results and copy it to MS Word.
3. We recommend a computer with a Pentium 3 or newer processor and at least 256mb
of ram (preferably more) to make this process go as fast as possible.
4. We recommend an Epson scanner (not their cheapest one though); they are
very fast and accurate.
5. For printing--consider a small laser printer if you want portability. Get
a larger laser printer if you want to print at the lowest costs.
Check out any of these web pages for reviews of the latest scanners and
printers.
For scanners, focus on the speed of doing black and white text at 300dpi
for scanning purposes. For portable printers, check the size of the printer
(ones bigger than 23 x 14 x 9 inches are going to have trouble fitting on
planes) and get one that prints at least 12 ppm. You can also consider the
Canon BJC-85, a very light, portable ink-jet printer; its slower and more
costly per page than a laser printer, but it is very light and small. For
larger printers, get one that prints at least 20 ppm.
Reading
Briefs directly from your computer
While this has not been widely used (our squad is currently experimenting
with this), you need to consider these factors:
1. How to open all the files you need and to make them readable during the
round (e.g. what will you do if you have a piece of evidence on page 2 and page
23--are you going to scroll; are you going to copy and paste the evidence into
a new document but won't that take too much time?, etc.).
2. How will you share the evidence with the other team? with the judge?
3. Highlight your evidence electronically (MS Word has this function
built-in) so you know the parts to read.
4. Will you print some of your evidence? Perhaps, print the evidence that
you use in almost all of your debates (key disadvantage shells, the first
affirmative case) and then keep less often used case files and
"backfiles" on the computer.