Building a Season-Long Evidence File
Because the BQ resolution never changes, your research should accumulate into an organized, growable file across the whole season. You will be able to design a filing system that keeps your evidence usable under time pressure.
Organizing by Argument, Not by Source
File your evidence under the argument it supports (e.g., 'Premise: consciousness requires biological substrate') rather than by where you found it, so that in-round you can pull exactly the card you need without hunting through an unsorted pile. Each argument folder should hold both your best supporting card and the strongest opposing card you've found, so you always practice against your own best objection.
Tagging Cards for Speed
Write a one-line tag above every piece of evidence summarizing its claim in plain English, since in a fast-paced cross-examination you will not have time to reread a full paragraph to remember what a card says. Update tags as your understanding deepens over the season; a tag that made sense in September may need sharpening by February.
A debater has ten articles related to moral realism collected over three months.
Instead of leaving them in one folder titled 'Sources,' the debater creates folders titled 'Premise: Moral disagreement disproves objectivity,' 'Premise: Moral progress implies objectivity,' and 'Objections to moral realism,' filing each article under the specific premise it supports or attacks, with a one-line tag on each.
1. What is the recommended way to organize a season-long BQ evidence file?
Answer all 1 to check.
Build and continuously refine an argument-organized, plain-language-tagged evidence file across the whole season.