Research & Evidence

Public Forum is open evidence. While the League provides a “packet” for policy debate, competitors in Public Forum must research and write their own cases.

Evidence & Public Forum

Public Forum has different evidence standards than policy debate.  While policy debate uses long, extended block quotes (“cards”), Public Forum is similar to an essay / research paper for school. This means that you can:

• Paraphrase Sources

• Quote Short Phrases AND / OR Full Sentences

• Use Ellipses

You must provide a FULL CITATION for any source referenced or paraphrased. This citation should include:

• Author Name (First / Last)

• Author Qualifications

• Title

• Publication Name

• Publication Date

• URL (If Website)

Getting Started

Doing research can be intimidating. However, Public Forum topics are based on current events. If you watch the news (or even browse Reddit), then you probably have a head start! To get started, do the following:

Step #1: Background Reading.

• Take 15 – 20 minutes to Google key words from the resolution. Write down any topic words / phrases that keep coming up.

Step #2: Narrow Your Search

• Using the “key words” you wrote down from your initial search, focus on specific ideas to learn more about.

  • For example, I googled “NATO,” “defense commitment,” and “Baltic states.” My results often included words like “Russian aggression,” “encroachment,” “deterrence,” and “Ukraine.”

  • By doing more searches with the above key words, I found articles on the history of Russian involvement in the Baltics and opinion pieces about NATO. This let me write the sample Public Forum case!

• When you find a good quote, a qualified source, or anything you want to put in your case, bookmark it!

Step #3: Save & Insert

• Repeat Steps 1 & 2.

• Once you have a critical mass of articles (10 -15), start writing your case!