Once you’ve got a general idea of background information, the next step is to find specific research for your case or information you might want to quote. This is where you get down into the details and search for anything and everything that could help you. I recommend starting off with database searches and then moving into general googling.

When my debate coach first told me about databases and encyclopedias, I thought she wanted me to go to a library and check out one of those huge volumes. Actually, my first thought was “I’m pretty sure those were the things dinosaurs used”. However, she meant online databases, sites that have collections of articles that you can search for based on subject or author. Some of my favorites for LD include: “The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy”, “The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy”, and “JSTOR.org”. These are useful because you don’t have to worry too much about their credibility, and they will provide you with journals or articles that have a lot of citable evidence. Here are a couple of tips for navigating these sites:

Searching a Database: Unfortunately, databases don’t react kindly to typos, so if you are using one and not much comes up, make sure everything is spelled, capitalized, and spaced correctly. 

Some databases will lock articles behind paywalls, but if you can get just the title of a specific journal you can do a google search which may give you a PDF or lead you to where you can access it for free. Others, like JSTOR, will let you create an account where you can access a few articles a month without having to pay for them. 

Pinpointing Good Articles: Journals and scholarly articles usually come with an abstract, which is a little blurb at the beginning of the article that gives you an overview of what the article will cover. Read those first, and it can help you sort out which ones aren’t as useful.

After you’ve exhausted the database avenue, it’s time to do a good old-fashioned Google Search. Basic google searches will also give you some great resources, but there are a couple of things you can do to help cut through some of the weeds. 

Search Engine: In my experience google works best, and sometimes even if you have a google browser you might be using yahoo or bing for the actual search engine. Those sites might return less useful results, although that being said, if you're having trouble finding anything, trying out a couple of different search engines can serve as a last-ditch effort.

Put it in Quotes: Putting a keyword in quotes will search for that exact keyword and filter out unrelated results. 

Add file types: If you add filetype:pdf at the end of your search, e.g. “Preventive War filetype:pdf”, Google will only give you search results that are in pdf format. 

Specify the time: This was super helpful in extemp and can also be useful if you need to find current evidence. Under the search bar, there is a drop-down menu that says tools. Click on that, and there will be a dropdown that says ‘Any Time’ where you can choose the date of the results. That way if I select ‘Past Month’ I should only get results that were published in the past month. 

Scholar.google.com: If you are looking for sources that have a little more depth, try doing a google search with scholar.google.com. Type that into your search bar and it will take you to a google search page that works exactly like a normal google search bar, except the results will all be “scholarly articles”; journals, databases, peer-reviewed articles, etc. 

A word on Credibility: As you get more familiar with the research process, you’ll probably be able to filter out non-credible sites. For example, pretty much everyone knows that Wikipedia shouldn’t be quoted. Ever. Make sure to use critical thinking to evaluate the source; one way to expedite the evaluation process is to look at the URL. A URL can tell you a lot about the webpage. First off, if there isn’t a little padlock at the beginning, think twice, maybe the site is going to load malware onto your computer. Secondly, while ‘.com’ sites aren’t always bad, ‘.org’, ‘.edu’, or ‘.gov’ sites usually have more credibility or at least publish more scholarly articles. You can (and should) always google the author of the paper you are reading; you’ll want to have their credentials on hand anyway if you quote them.  

I sincerely hope you aren’t planning to go into debate rounds with the quality or quantity of research I exhibited in my elementary papers. I know research feels and sounds daunting, and with procrastination looking oh so alluring, it’s easy to downplay the value of comprehensive research. However, debate ‘Legends’ owe part of their success to a foundation of knowledge that they can draw on in and outside of rounds. Even if some of the information you gain doesn’t apply to your cases for that specific year, I hold you can never have too much information.