Life Blood of Debate – Research Evidence and Debate Structure

The Life Blood of Debate: Evidence Types of evidence: –Your experience, common knowledge or a story that someone told you –Examples, statistics, or testimony –From books, magazines, journals, newspapers, and web sites So what makes some evidence “better” than others?

The Qualities of Good Evidence Should be full of solid reasoning and warrants, not just claims. –“Because I said so” does not provide a warrant! –Example: If you wanted to prove that Senator Obama will be elected President of the U.S. A quote saying, “Senator Obama will be elected because he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning” implies that politicians who opposed the war have a better chance of winning. This is better than simply saying “Obama will win.”

The Qualities of Good Evidence Should be recent. –Some claims are true at certain times but proven false over the course of time. –The more recent your evidence, the greater chance you have that it might remain true.

The Qualities of Good Evidence Should come from qualified sources. –The author of your evidence should have good credentials and be experienced with the evidence/topic. –It is assumed that those sources who are more experienced or credentialed are more likely to be right.

The Qualities of Good Evidence Should come from unbiased sources. –Being “biased” means that the source has a motivation that could override their interest in telling the truth. –A politician might be more concerned about the political effects on their campaign than they are about the truth. –A business leader might have strong economic interest in saying something that isn’t the truth. –A friend or relative might be motivated by loyalty or love more than the desire to tell the truth.

Citing the Evidence The complete citation for evidence in a debate round must include the following: The author, the qualification (credentials), the source, the complete date, and the URL or page number. Example: Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institute, Brookings Web Site, November 18,

Evaluating Sources If you are doing a Google or Yahoo search, you must be careful about the validity of your sources!