Organizing Your Evidence

Once you have decided to use your evidence, you want to organize it for in round use.

Have citations prepared for your evidence.

PF rules require a full APA/MLA citation be available for evidence you cite in round. It is also a good idea to have a short citation of the Title, Author, Year, and Source at the top of the evidence, or “card”.

Copy and paste the actual evidence that you are citing.

Copy a minimum of a paragraph before and after what you are reading or paraphrasing. This will provide the context for your evidence. You can only know the intent of the citation if you have it in context. Selecting a small portion of a larger article is called “cutting a card” or “cutting” your evidence. You do not want to allow your opponent to question the citation because you only copied over the sentence you wanted to read. You will find example formatting for a card below:

Make a fact sheet of frequently used evidence.

This should include the evidence as well as information about the author, possible rebuttals, etc. Know about the publication or author you are citing and why it is a good source to use for the topic. Use well-known names to your advantage, such as major newspapers, but don’t be afraid to include credentials of lesser-known scholars. A fact sheet is different than evidence on file because it is for your use only. Individual pieces of evidence can be given to your opponents. The fact sheet is meant to help you talk about your own evidence in round.

Your fact sheet should answer (in a concise way) the following questions about your evidence:
a. What is the author or article’s main claim?
b. Why is this claim important to the topic? To the judge?
c. What logic, examples, or analysis does the author use to support this claim?
d. Are there errors or bias within the claim? How does this affect the claim and how can I counter any rebuttals to the claim?

Organize your evidence by side of the debate, by argument topic, etc.

Come up with an intelligible system that works for both you and your partner. This often means color coding, using separate binders or expandable folders to organize your evidence.