DEBATE CARDS Debate Central Workshop

What is a Card?  Key paragraphs taken from published material that make an argument.  Word for word quotation.  No adding  No deleting  No paraphrasing  A claim supported by a warrant. (A claim alone is not enough.)  Full and proper citation.  “Tag” or “Slug”

What Is NOT a Legitimate Card?  Not available to the general public (example: private )  “Straw-person” argument  Taken out of context  Missing, incomplete or incorrect citation  Fabricated cite or text

Origin of the Term “Card”  Originally debaters placed types of evidence/quotations onto index cards and carried huge boxes of index cards to tournaments. Each individual piece of evidence had its own index card. Eventually each separate piece of evidence became known as a “card” even though we use printer and copy paper instead of index cards.

High Quality Cards  Warrant supporting the claim  Qualified source  Date—Recently published  Specific to the issue  Direct and clear language

Basic Elements of Each Card  Tag  Shortened Cite  Full Cite  Full Text  Warrant  Underlining or Highlighting

Fabrication  General definition: Untruthful manufacturing or alteration of text or cite  Manufacturing—writing your own cards  Alteration—adding, deleting, or editing any part of a real card to craft a different one  Applies to the text AND the citation of the card

Fabrication  Destroys a cornerstone of the activity  Analogous to taking steroids in sports or cheating during an exam in school  Ethically wrong  Severe penalties  Don’t risk it. Check with a coach if you have any doubts

Underlining and Highlighting  Be very careful—it is very difficult to do correctly.  It is better to read too much than too little.  Retain the WARRANT.  Retain proper grammar.  Avoid altering the intent of the author.  Notice when your opponents have made their cards too short.