#4n6

If you're new to competing in forensics, figuring out what to bring can be weird. So because my team is always prepared for anything, here's my suggestions for what you might want to bring to your competitions:

SEWING KIT (there's always that one person who's suit or skirt falls apart)

Bandaids and basic medical stuff (there's always the person that gets hurt, too)

Anything you might need for a round (make sure you have your black book[s], laptop, boards, ext.)

Chargers and a power bank (do NOT assume that your devices will last the entire day, it's better to have them on you and not need them than to need them and not have them. Outlets might not be available so make sure you have a power bank)

WATER (yes you will definitely need it, don't you dare argue)

Money (make sure you eat and drink water if you didn't bring anything yourself)

Medicine (if you have prescription meds for whatever need, make sure you don't forget them and take them when you need to. My coach has us fill out papers if we need medicines at the beginning of the year and has us notify her before we take them, follow whatever rules your school/coach has for medical needs)

Lactose medicine (if you're like me and can't eat dairy without disaster, make sure you bring whatever form of lactose medicine you take. I try to avoid dairy entirely at comps, but there might not be an option so I bring it every time)

Something to keep you entertained (you might not get much down time between rounds depending on what you do, but bring something like books or your switch if you get bored and don't want to use up your phone battery)

Stim / anxiety toys (I have horrible anxiety and I get overstimulated easily. Comps can be loud, extremely busy, and generally too much, so make sure you have something to help)

Headphones (also for if you get overstimulated)

Notebooks, pencils, and highlighters (I did extemp a lot last year, and these are amazing for figuring out your speech. If you do extemp, I advise to write your points down, writing helps you memorize more than typing does)

Makeup (if you wear makeup, you might want to bring it in case it gets messed up throughout the day)

As March starts up, many students will be transitioning to a new debate topic. Having grown familiar with the previous topic area, it can seem daunting to try and tackle a new topic. However, with a good strategy, research and comprehension can be quick and simple.

1. Examine the topic wording.

Let’s use the potential March debate topic that wasn’t chosen as an example. That resolution reads, “Resolved: The United States should substantially increase its investment in carbon capture technology.” What are the important words in this resolution? ‘Carbon capture technology’ is the focus of this topic, and probably the thing that a reader notices first. But pay attention to the rest of the wording. The resolution specifies the United States– so, relying on research from other countries could be discredited by an opponent. The words ‘substantially’, ‘increase’, and ‘investment’ are also important. Most fundamentally, increasing an investment means that such an investment already exists. Additionally, the resolution only mentions investments, not infrastructure, which leaves room for debate over efficient funding.

This leaves us with a few points to research. What is carbon capture technology? Where does it already exist, in the world and in the US? What investments does the US already make in carbon capture technology? How expensive is it to develop, and how effective is it?

2. Research general background.

The first important step in researching this resolution is to understand the technology at its center: carbon capture and storage. Simply Googling this phrase leads us to an immediate issue, as the top results are all sponsored pages, mainly from big oil and gas companies. These may not necessarily be impartial, so let’s keep looking.

Past the ads, we see links to several scholarly articles; let’s flag those and keep them in mind. At the very bottom of the page we’ll find the Wikipedia entry for carbon capture technology. Though Wikipedia is usually not appropriate to use as evidence in a round, reading the article can be a good way to gain an understanding of a certain topic. From the first paragraph, we get an idea of what this technology is– a way of recapturing carbon emissions before they enter the atmosphere– and why it may be a subject of debate– there are many notable failures. Now that we know a bit about carbon capture, let’s start looking at potential arguments and sources.

(Psst! A Note About Debate Resources…)

Many debate organizations, including the National Speech and Debate Association, Champion Briefs, and DebateUS will provide videos and posts dissecting topics, and even providing evidence that you can cite. However, many of these resources are not free, or may require you to register an account. Additionally, you never want to rely on information that someone else has found and cut before you, as it may be misleading, misrepresentative, or wholly out of context. These websites can be helpful to point you in the right direction, and may help you understand what arguments will come up in a round, but never use them as your main resource.

3. Specific Research

Let’s go back to those scholarly articles that we put aside while researching carbon capture. The Google Scholar page is full of entries, so how do we find the right ones? On the first page of results are a few articles about efficacy, but all of them are behind a paywall. The only article not behind a paywall is an article on ‘recent’ developments… from 2015. So let’s change our strategy.

Going back to the Google results page, there are 3 articles that are immediately linked– and all of them are publicly available PDFs. If we move over to the News tab, we see even more sources. Let’s read a few! From the Verge, we have “Carbon capture tech is advancing in the wrong direction”; from New Scientist, we have “Most schemes to capture and reuse carbon actually increase emissions”; and finally we’ve got a press release from Chevron, an oil and gas company, announcing its recent investment in carbon capture.

Not only do we now have a good idea of what the controversy in this subject is, but we’re starting to see where it might be organized into contentions. We can imagine a con case that argues carbon capture technology actually increases emissions, negating any environmental impacts that the pro may put forward, and that also argues that substantially increasing this investment would not have any impact at all, as significant investments already exist, namely by oil and gas companies.

As we start to envision these arguments as contentions, places where we can do even more specific research begin to appear. What oil and gas companies already use this technology? How much are they spending on it? And is it working?