How To Tackle A New Debate Topic
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.
Letās use the potential March debate topic that wasnāt chosen as an example. That resolution reads, āResolved: The United States should substantially increase its investment in carbon capture technology.ā What are the important words in this resolution? āCarbon capture technologyā 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 Statesā so, relying on research from other countries could be discredited by an opponent. The words āsubstantiallyā, āincreaseā, and āinvestmentā 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 letās keep looking.
Past the ads, we see links to several scholarly articles; letās flag those and keep them in mind. At the very bottom of the page weāll 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 isā a way of recapturing carbon emissions before they enter the atmosphereā and why it may be a subject of debateā there are many notable failures. Now that we know a bit about carbon capture, letās start looking at potential arguments and sources.
(Psst! A Note About Debate Resourcesā¦)
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
Letās 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 ārecentā developments⦠from 2015. So letās change our strategy.
Going back to the Google results page, there are 3 articles that are immediately linkedā and all of them are publicly available PDFs. If we move over to the News tab, we see even more sources. Letās read a few! From the Verge, we have āCarbon capture tech is advancing in the wrong directionā; from New Scientist, we have āMost schemes to capture and reuse carbon actually increase emissionsā; and finally weāve 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 weāre 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?
Using these stepsā taking apart the wording of the resolution, doing general, unbiased background research, and moving into specific, argument-focused researchā will help to simplify your approach to new topics and make case writing intuitive and enjoyable. And always remember that your research doesnāt stop once a case is written; you should endeavor to keep reading, keep learning, and stay familiar with the ever-changing landscape that your topic fits into. With that in mind, go forth, and start researching!











