By the Book: Bringing Debate Research Back to the Stacks
This article was originally published in the March 2011 edition of the Rostrum.
Debate research is speeding up. With news and journal articles more prevalent online, many debaters can now be seen huddled in front of computers after school or on the weekends, clicking rapidly between Web pages to find the necessary evidence for their cases. With constantly updated news sites online, even daily newspapers (the ones that leave black smudges on your fingers) are seen as unreliable sources for the most current evidence. As the net that debaters toss into the expansive sea of information grows larger, the overall outlook on research methods by coaches, teachers, and debaters is changing.
Debaters are usually the most information-literate students, but there’s a danger that, with the expansion of online research resources, they’re again refusing to embrace all of the resources available to them. The fact that so much information is quickly available in “the cloud” through powerful resources like Google obscures the effect that this breadth of knowledge has on the depth of our understanding and analysis of it. Many debaters are speeding through research to maximize the quantity of evidence they can find, rather than being smart about the resources they seek and the time they give themselves to reflect and organize. The most common casualty of the predominance of ease of-access in information-seeking is the book. Even with Google proudly claiming to eventually digitize every book, the book form is far from dead, and book research in debate, whether through e-books or printed volumes, shouldn’t be as scarce as it is.
One main cause of the decline of book-based evidence in debate is the stereotype, significantly influenced by information media forces outside the debate community, that book knowledge is stale and archaic. In the past few years, I’ve noticed a growing tendency by debaters and judges to assume that currency of evidence automatically trumps other contending factors, even if a recent, qualified analysis of political environments in a book might shed more light on the causes and consequences of policy shifts and escalating conflicts. I was reminded of this phenomenon when reading about the reaction by many journalists to WikiLeaks’ release of confidential US diplomatic cables in November 2010. As details of the inner workings of US diplomacy came to light, many US and international journalists were excited about the amount of information now available to them that shed light on US foreign relations, a plethora of sources that would’ve normally taken years to access from the State Department.
To me this reaction also highlights the unique authority that books (even a few years old) by journalists, academics, and policy analysts can have within debates about foreign and domestic policy. A brief article about the War in Afghanistan by a staff reporter of a newspaper might accurately depict the surface events taking place among the major nations involved. However, an in-depth survey of those same events by a field expert or academic in a book not only accounts for internal documents released after the War has receded but also allows these qualified writers a critical perspective made possible by time and space from the events. Does this mean I discourage debaters themselves from analyzing the implications of “breaking news” on the sub-topics involved, even if no evidence is available to support their claims? No, that type of speculation is invaluable as a way for students to engage new dynamics within the topic. I also think, however, that a higher value should be placed on meticulous surveys of the larger picture of policy issues, especially when the probability of the effects of government actions are given such strong weight in the debate game.
From a strategic perspective, books are an underrated source for quality evidence and can often be a difference-maker for teams looking to develop sturdy affirmative and negative positions. First, books often contain policy ideas that are unpredictable to many teams researching certain bodies of literature, even if those ideas are well-supported and respected among scholars in the field. Second, books provide the depth of analysis necessary for high-level debates. Although online sources used in debates allow debaters to throw news bytes back and forth at each other, book-length discussions of relevant issues can give teams an edge in complex debates because they take the time to explain themselves and account for historical background. As a judge, I hear “this card has no warrant” much less concerning book sources than other resources. Additionally, the most eloquent debaters I’ve seen in the last ten years have taken advantage of anecdotes from books to support their arguments with emotion and credibility. Third, although many books are becoming available in text format online, many are not. And as many debaters stick to researching online information only (wrongly assuming that they will find evidence that substitutes for the book materials they’re not seeking), many are not taking advantage of the wealth of book resources available because they’re difficult to integrate into paperless researching and paperless debating. Taking the time to peruse then copy sections of a book can often give debaters the research edge they need.
I remember in the mid-1990s, when I was debating the Russia topic at a major national tournament, my partner and I were lucky enough to reach the quarterfinals and faced an intimidating team from Texas. We had struggled against them all semester, and our coach had been trying to devise a strategy against their affirmative case. He had found a few cards from journals and newspapers, but a strong strategy had not emerged from his research. When we were frantically preparing to negate their case during that round, however, he pulled a book out of his bag and showed us a few sections of a chapter that he thought would make for a germane attack on their solvency. When I was giving the first negative speech, after I had read all of the files we had blocked out on paper, I picked up the book and read straight from the section he showed us. I don’t quite remember how the arguments from the book developed or how we implemented our overall strategy that round, but I do have an unforgettable memory of several judges on the panel, after declaring that we had won, saying, one after the other, “I vote on the book.” It was funny at the time because, even though lots of teams were using book research, we happened to have the physical book in hand because we didn’t have time to transfer the excerpts to paper. And I also couldn’t help cherish the looks on the faces of our opponents after their airtight case had been bested by commentary within a thick, bulky book.
So how can you as a coach or debater start to embrace the value of book research for debate preparation? Here are a few tips and titles for this year’s topic that might be a starting point to get book-ish in your research.
How to get the books:
Your library is more than just a wireless hub: Bug your school librarian for tips, resources, and off-campus access to books. Believe me, as a librarian, we love when students and teachers approach us with extracurricular inquiries and challenges.
Available now in a college near you: If you haven’t already, seek out access to your local college and university libraries. They will be the best places to find a comprehensive stash of titles related to your topic. Many school libraries can arrange for provisional student access to university collections, so look up your local university library catalogs to see what kinds of research treasures might be available to you.
Dust off that library card: While many local public library branches are thin on academic non-fiction, main public libraries usually have a surprising amount of recent volumes related to most debate topics.
Suggestions for this topic:
Take advantage of publishers who are catering to the debate community: Greenhaven Press, among others, has published a volume entitled US Military Deployment entirely devoted to analysis of the topic.
Follow the bread crumbs in your research: Look for books and authors being published in connection with think tanks and research institutions. Seth Jones, a political scientist with the RAND Corporation, published a fascinating book this year called In the Graveyard of Empires that weaves Afghan military history into an analysis of the current US presence in Afghanistan.
The Pulitzer is a Prize for a reason: Seek out influential and award-winning books on issues related to the topic, and use the time before camp or the beginning of the year to brush up on your historical understanding of key events. Thomas Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent at The Washington Post, published a book in early 2009 entitled The Gamble that still offers powerful insight into the US intervention in Iraq from 2006-2008
Robbie Quinn is a librarian and debate coach at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN. He has been involved in debate for 15 years, debating at MBA and the University of Georgia, and then coaching at UGA, New Trier High School in Chicago, and now MBA. He also teaches at the Dartmouth Debate Institute.