The Research Process

With Public Forum’s constantly changing topics, you are going to be doing a lot of research. Research is actual work, but it can also be a lot of fun learning about new topics and sharpening your analytical thinking. You’ll also become more knowledgeable on current events. A lot can be said about doing research and creating evidence files, so I’ll just keep it short with tips and tricks here. I encourage you to read other literature on research.

The topic is released.

The topic will be posted on the NSDA website on the first of the month prior to the topic’s month (hyperlink valid as of publication). For example, November’s topic will be posted on October 1. The one exception is September, which is generally posted mid-August. You always want to check which topic the tournaments you’ll be attending will use. Sometimes tournaments that fall on the last weekend of the month will choose the upcoming topic rather than the current topic.

Brainstorming

Before you start doing any reading, I highly suggest brainstorming. Write down all of your initial argument ideas, no matter how little you know about the topic. Also write down any questions you have. It’s good to keep these questions on hand when writing your case so you remember what concepts initially confused you. This indicates that you may have to explain these concepts in-depth for the judge’s understanding. Compile a list of possible values and interests that are related to the topic. Talk to you partner and teammates to think of more research topics.

Preliminary research

Before you actually research, use Google or your favorite search engine for some basic searches. I often would get antsy if I hadn’t done any research, so I would do a bunch of searches for definitions and searching the resolution’s terms right off the bat. By resolution’s terms I mean the words that make up the meat of the resolution – the policy, the actor, the weighing mechanism, etc. If you are not sure how to determine key terms, please look to the chapter on Cases and Case writing Part 1: The Set-Up, Definitions. I recommend Google rather than Google Scholar at first because you want to be a generalist at this point. Google Scholar is great once you have an idea of what you are looking for. Rather than reading immediately, however, I would bookmark all the pages that seem useful and come back to them after thinking critically about the topic. This search without reading will open your eyes to what literature is out there, introduce interconnected ideas within the topic, and help your brainstorming.  Let yourself do this initial search until you feel like the things you are finding are repetitive, and also don’t overload yourself. I’d spend maybe 45 minutes to an hour surfing the internet and then set aside your research for a while. You want to give your brain space to think about what you have seen and read before moving on. You may end up with more articles for one side of the debate, and that’s okay. Just make sure you’ve collected some bookmarks for both sides.

Research

When you sit down to actually research and read up on the topic, you should try to progress through three stages in order to build knowledge on the topic followed by sound arguments.

First, you want to answer the question “What is the topic?” This means finding background information. Learn about the topic, the key terms, and familiarize yourself with the context of the resolution on both sides of the debate. In this stage you are looking for more objective sources that will inform you rather than try to persuade you. These articles should inform you about the general topic as well as the two sides of the argument. Collect all types of articles that build your working knowledge of the topic. A “working knowledge” means that your research and thinking about the topic is not stagnant. You continue to research concepts throughout the month and build on what you already know.

The next question to attack is “What are my arguments?” In this stage you will look for evidence that makes claims about the topic. For examples, let’s look at the April 2013 resolution: The continuation of current U.S. anti-drug policies in Latin America will do more harm than good.  A claim that is general about the topic would be that U.S. anti-drug policies in Latin America drive up the price of drugs and the cost of drug trafficking.  A claim specific to that argument for the Pro would be that this further enriches cartels and allows for the purchase of arms. A claim specific to that argument for the Con is that higher prices deter the consumption of drugs, which decreases the drug market in the US. Here you are looking for opinions and differing perspectives.

The last question to consider is “What are my impacts?” Having acquired a working knowledge and ideas about arguments, this stage is about finding evidence that specifically supports the claims you want to make. For a more detailed explanation of impacts, see Cases and Case writing Part 2: The Arguments, Impact. Here you know what evidence you need to build your case and look for supporting evidence. For the examples above, Pro would want to find evidence that enriching cartels and the purchase of arms endangers citizens. For Con, you want evidence that a decreased drug market benefits the U.S.