LD RESEARCHERS—FOLLOW THESE EXPECTATIONS

 

ALL RESEARCHERS DOING THEIR FIRST LD ASSIGNMENT—turn 1 page essay and 1 page of cards to Jim Hanson for review.

 

Use the Verbatim Paperless Template

 

INCLUDE IN THE FIRST LD FILE. 1

INCLUDE IN THE SECOND LD FILE. 2

DETAILS FOR FIRST LD FILE. 2

Example LD Topic File 1. 2

DETAILS FOR SECOND LD FILE. 5

Done Mid-Late August, Early October, Early December, Early February, Early May. 5

Example LD File 2. 5

QUALITY EXPECTATIONS. 7

 

INCLUDE IN THE FIRST LD FILE

 

·       Due 8 days after topic is announced (you are obligated to check on topic announcement date)

·       Pay is $174 (37 cards plus essay)

 

·       2 pages of topic essay

·       8 tagged definitions (8)

·       Aff Case with carded value and criteria and 1 or 2 contentions for a total of 8 pieces of tagged evidence (8)

·       4 pieces of tagged evidence extending the aff case and 4 pieces of tagged evidence clearly and directly answering the neg case (8)

·       Neg Case with carded value and criteria and 1 contention for a total of 5 pieces of tagged evidence (5)

·       4 pieces of tagged evidence extending the aff case and 4 pieces of tagged evidence clearly and directly answering the aff case (8)

 

INCLUDE IN THE SECOND LD FILE

 

·       Due 18 days after topic is announced (you are obligated to check on topic announcement date)

·       Pay is $336 (84 cards)

 

·       42 tagged pieces of aff evidence including extensive answers to neg contentions/arguments (42)

 

·       42 tagged pieces of neg evidence including extensive answers to aff contentions/arguments (42)

 

 

DETAILS FOR FIRST LD FILE

 

NSDA: Done Mid August, Early October, Early December, Early February, Early May (8 days after topic is announced)

 

UIL: Done Mid August, Mid December (8 days after topic is announced)

 

See the Topic at: NSDA Topics | National Speech & Debate Association (speechanddebate.org)        UIL Topics   Debate — Speech & Debate — University Interscholastic League (UIL) (uiltexas.org)

 

Example LD Topic File 1

 

1. Essay discussing the topic (2 pages single space Calibri 11 point font).

--Discuss aff and negative arguments, strategies, potential value, criteria, philosophical and conceptual arguments debaters can make.

 

2. Definitions and discussion. In this section, provide 2 or 3 definitions of each key word in the resolution followed by a paragraph after each word that discusses the implications of the definitions for the debate round and topic. (8 total definitions)

--NOTE: Tag and cite and format definitions just like you do for regular evidence.

 

FOR ALL EVIDENCE—IT MUST BE _VERY_ TOPIC SPECIFIC; SKIP GENERIC IMPACTS/BACKFILES

--Evidence in the NSDA Files should average about 1/2 of a page (1, 2, or 3 cards fit on each page); NO evidence is longer than 1 page. Why? Too long for younger and slower debaters to read and in rebuttals, LDers don’t have enough time.

 

YOUR FILE SHOULD FOCUS ON CORE, VERY BASIC TOPIC ISSUES

Example Topic is “Resolved the Environment is more important than Economic Growth”

Your page titles/evidence should be “Environment good/bad” “Economic growth good/bad” with an aff and neg case that are very similar, basic, very general argument about the topic words.

Your files should NOT be “Anthropocentrism good/bad” “An oil well in Texas is harming ground water” “Global trading relations causes trade wars” STICK TO THE CORE ISSUES IN THE TOPIC AS IT IS WRITTEN.

 

3. AFF: Sample aff case (2 to 3 pages—with 8 pieces of tagged and formatted evidence).

--must have introduction sentence and then “I stand resolved __the words of the resolution”

--must have 1 or 2 definitions of key terms

--must have a quotation for the value AND THE VALUE MUST BE SPECIFIC—showing what the value is and why it is important/has impact

--must have a quotation for the criteria—showing what the criteria is/how it weighs and why it is important

--the contentions should clearly connect the topic to the value/criteria

--the contentions should have impacts—why the arguments weigh—deaths, racism, etc.

--contention/advantage titles should be very concise complete sentences, not just a word “Economy” NO “Carbon taxes hurt the Economy” YES

--tags need to be complete sentences, concise, and mimic words in the card for extremely high accuracy

 

4. AFF Extension tagged evidence (4 pieces of evidence) and 4 tagged pieces of evidence against the negative case (8 pieces of evidence).

THE TOTAL AFF EVIDENCE SHOULD BE 16 MINIMUM.

 

5. NEG: Sample neg. case (2 or 3 pages—with 5 pieces of tagged and formatted evidence).

--must have introduction sentence and then “I stand resolved __the words of the resolution”

--must have 1 or 2 definitions of key terms

--must be short; we are trying to give the students time to read evidence against the aff case (the neg case should be 3:30 or less time)

--must have a quotation for the value AND THE VALUE MUST BE SPECIFIC—showing what the value is and why it is important/has impact

--must have a quotation for the criteria—showing what the criteria is/how it weighs and why it is important

--the contentions should clearly connect the topic to the value/criteria

--the contentions should have impacts—why the arguments weigh—deaths, racism, etc.

--contention/advantage titles should be very concise complete sentences, not just a word “Economy” NO “Carbon taxes hurt the Economy” YES

--tags need to be complete sentences, concise, and that nearly mimic the exact wording in the quotation itself

 

4. NEG Extension tagged evidence (4 pieces of evidence) and 4 tagged pieces of evidence against the affirmative case (8 pieces of evidence).

THE TOTAL NEG EVIDENCE SHOULD BE 13 MINIMUM.

 

YOU ARE PAID $174 for a File 1. You are not paid for excess evidence/material.

 

 

DETAILS FOR SECOND LD FILE

 

NSDA: Done Mid-Late August, Early-Mid October, Early-Mid December, Early-Mid February, Early-Mid May (18 days after topic is announced)

 

UIL: Done Mid-Later August, Mid-Later December (18 days after topic is announced)

 

See the Topic at: NSDA Topics | National Speech & Debate Association (speechanddebate.org)        UIL Topics   Debate — Speech & Debate — University Interscholastic League (UIL) (uiltexas.org)

 

Example LD File 2

 

1. at least 42 pieces of affirmative evidence

--contention/advantage titles should be very concise complete sentences, not just a word “Economy” NO “Carbon taxes hurt the Economy” YES

--tags need to be complete sentences, concise, and that nearly mimic the exact wording in the quotation itself

--Your extensions should include no more than 4 pieces of evidence per Title/Argument (subdivide into more arguments if you have more evidence)

In addition to extensions and additional arguments for the affirmative side . . .

--Respond to 7 to 9 different neg arguments, provide at least 2 pieces of evidence and at least 1 analytic/common sense for each response brief

--Your Responses should clearly and totally or nearly totally defeat the neg argument

--Title for each page of these response briefs is “Response to ___x argument”

--Evidence in the Part 2 File should be about 1/3 of a page (3 cards fit on each page); NO evidence is longer than ½ page (2 cards fit on each page). Why? Not enough time in the rebuttals to read longer evidence.

 

2. at least 42 pieces of negative evidence

--contention/advantage titles should be very concise complete sentences, not just a word “Economy” NO “Carbon taxes hurt the Economy” YES

--tags need to be complete sentences, concise, and that nearly mimic the exact wording in the quotation itself

--Your extensions should include no more than 4 pieces of evidence per Title/Argument (subdivide into more arguments if you have more evidence)

In addition to extensions and additional arguments for the negative side . . .

--Respond to 7 to 9 different aff arguments, provide at least 2 pieces of evidence and at least 1 analytic/common sense for each response brief

--Your Responses should clearly and totally or nearly totally defeat the neg argument

--Title for each page of these response briefs is “Response to ___x argument”

--Evidence in the Part 2 File should be about 1/3 of a page (3 cards fit on each page); NO evidence is longer than ½ page (2 cards fit on each page). Why? Not enough time in the rebuttals to read longer evidence.

 

3. Should not repeat material in the first file (ask Jim for a copy of the first file if you don’t have it)

 

YOU ARE PAID $336 for an NFL LD Supplement File. You are not paid for excess evidence/material.

 

 

QUALITY EXPECTATIONS

 

1) USE THE VERBATIM TEMPLATE

http://paperlessdebate.com/verbatim/SitePages/Home.aspx

All evidence is submitted electronically to Jim Hanson

 

2) USE QUALITY, RELEVANT EVIDENCE.

--When people look at the evidence, we want them to think “this is salient, quality stuff.”

--The evidence should give warrants for the argument in the tag

--Typically, evidence should not be longer than half a page

--Typically, evidence should not be shorter than 1/3 a page

--If the issue is timely (e.g., uniqueness, current policy)—it should be VERY RECENT.

 

3) USE DIVERSITY OF QUALITY SOURCES.

--You may not use more than 10% of an article for quotations (try to keep it to 5%; if the article is less than 3000 words, you may use one 300 word quotation)

--Do not use the same source more than twice in a row in your file

--Minimize the use of less credible sites such as blogs, Reuters, “crazy ideologue websites,” etc.

--TRY TO GET QUALIFIED EXPERTS

--You may not turn in material from sources such as Lexis if you do not have legal access to use that source for the purpose of non-profit educational evidence materials outside of your company/school.

 

4) CITATION FORMAT. Make sure your citations look like this:

 

For citations of printed material:

George Gales Morak, Ph.D. in Engineering at Berkeley, 2013, Breaking Entry: The Test for the Future, p.129

 

For citations of web/electronic material:

Edgar D. Mitchell, Sc.D., Apollo 14 Lunar module pilot, Sixth person to walk on the Moon and Robert Staretz, M.S., October-November, 2010

“Our Destiny – A Space Faring Civilization?,” Journal of Cosmology, Volume 12, pp. 3500-3505, http://journalofcosmology.com/Mars104.html (accessed 8/15/12)

 

Citation Questions Answered

NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED A PAGE NUMBER FOR WEB PAGE CITATIONS.

 

NOTE: YOU DO NEED TO INCLUDE TITLES OF JOURNAL/NEWSPAPER ARTICLES.

 

NOTE: YOU DO NEED DATE ACCESSED.

 

5) UNDERLINE THE EVIDENCE.

--Be generous in your underlining—typically more than you would with college files (hs coaches aren’t keen on hyper-underlining and the kids can underline further if they wish).

--Focus what you underline on the key claims and warrants needed to support your tag.

--Do not underline just one or two words in a sentence.

--Do not skip over items that contradict your tag. If that happens—you need a different piece of evidence.

 

6) USE CONCISE TAGS THAT ARE VERY ACCURATE

--Tags should use words in the evidence

--Avoid tags over 1 sentence/10 words in length except in unusual situations/kritik philosophical arguments where it is needed.

 

7) USE CALIBRI 11 POINT FONT as your basic font.

Use 1 inch margins ALL THE WAY AROUND.

The Verbatim Template is set to do that.

 

8) FORMAT THE EVIDENCE.

 

–Block Titles F6

–Tags F7

–Citation (author, quals, date) F8

–Underline F9

 

9) MAKE SURE EVIDENCE DOES NOT SPAN OVER 2 PAGES

Add in page breaks—remember that some people still print these files and don’t want evidence printed on two sheets of paper.