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
Done
Mid-Late August, Early October, Early December, Early February, Early May
· 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)
· 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)
See the Topic at: NSDA Topics | National Speech
& Debate Association (speechanddebate.org) UIL Topics Debate — Speech & Debate — University
Interscholastic League (UIL) (uiltexas.org)
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.
See the Topic at: NSDA Topics | National Speech
& Debate Association (speechanddebate.org) UIL Topics Debate — Speech & Debate — University
Interscholastic League (UIL) (uiltexas.org)
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.
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)
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.