Wow – inaccurate quotations from the McCain campaign?
We’ve talked about how to cut evidence before but it’s always a good thing to brush up on. Cards are the evidence that you read during a debate round. They should include three things: Tag, Citation, Quotation.
The tag is a one sentence summary of the point of the article. Avoid powertagging or removing qualifiers from the paragraph. If the evdience says “the embargo may cause economic collapse” avoid tagging the evidence “Embargo causes great depression.” You can go to the free evidence link to see examples of evidence and tags. Keep it short and to the point. This is what most people flow during the round and then listen to the card to make sure it matches the tag.
The citation should include everything that a citation in one of your college papers should include. As of 2008 the NFA-LD rules state:
A “full source” is assumed to include author’s name, author’s qualifications (when apparent in the original), full date, and title of source. Page numbers need not be read during the debate, but should be available upon request.
I’d also recommend to include the website address if you got it from the internet or the call number from the library if you got it from a book. That way it’s easy to go back and look at the source again.
And remember – the rules state:
The first time a source is presented, the debater must state the full source when introducing the evidence.
This is a good idea so that the judge and audience can evaluate the credibility of the audience. Hopefully you are using excellent evidence for your case – it can’t hurt you to add in “Dr. Smith, a renowned expert on Cuba-US relations and chair of the XYZ Foundation” to your citation.
Finally, is the quotation itself. My recommendation is to always keep paragraphs together and avoid cutting only the sentences in the middle. Even if you only want a few sentences from the middle keep everything together so the evidence is in context. Furthermore, you can avoid cross-cutting or what the McCain campaign was accused of here . Cross-cutting is when you take a sentence out of context within the overall source.
Sometimes this happens in articles that explore both sides of an issue. So, in the first part of the paragraph the source states the problem. Then, the second half they present their actual argument. It may sound something like:
Some argue the Cuba embargo has been a success – that it has worked effectively and should not be lifted. To lift the embargo would be a sign of defeat. However, research has shown this not to be the case and could not be further from the truth. For example, …
You can see how if you only read part of the first two sentences:
Some argue the Cuba embargo has been a success – that it has worked effectively and should not be lifted. To lift the embargo would be a sign of defeat.
You would not be accurately quoting your evidence. One of the biggest mistakes a debater can ever make it cross-cutting and fabricating evidence. Once you are caught you are likely to be: 1) kicked off your team or if you’re not kicked off your team win very few rounds in the future since you’ve lost your credibility, 2) cause your school to lose a lot of reputation and rounds in the future since judges know “oh, that school makes up evidence”, or 3) be kicked out of your school.
I view not accurately quoting evidence as equivalent to plagiarizing one of your essays for class. If one of my students did this I would follow the same procedures as if I caught a student plagarizing a paper in class. Academic honesty is important.
I hope this has helped you get the basics of cutting cards. The site still has the card cutter feature available for free here – I hope to do more work on that over Christmas break and make it easier to use. Good luck!
Any suggestions on how you cut evidence?
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