By Sherry Lin

When that new resolution drops on the first of the month, it can feel like you’re suddenly expected to quickly understand and become an expert on a policy or organization you’ve never heard of. But, don’t fret! The good news is that effective research doesn’t mean working harder every month; instead, it means building a repeatable process that works no matter the topic—something I’ll be walking you through today.

The first step is always to slow down and understand the resolution itself. Before opening any articles, open a blank document or pick up a pen and rewrite the resolution in your own words. Identify the key terms in the resolution, define them, and try to figure out what’s actually being debated. Is it a question of cost versus benefit? Short-term gains versus long-term consequences? As soon as you can identify the core conflict of the topic, your research easily becomes much more focused and intentional.

Once you understand the resolution, your next goal is to build basic background knowledge about the topic. Beware: this is where many debaters jump too quickly into dense academic sources and end up confused by complicated jargon or hard-to-understand concepts. Instead, start with a few reliable overview sources that explain how the policy works, what’s happening now, and who is affected. At this stage, you’re not trying to find the evidence you’ll end up reading in a round—you’re just trying to understand the topic well enough to research it intelligently. Think of this as your base knowledge that everything else will build upon.

After you’ve established that foundation, it’s time to start preparing for the actual debate part of the process. Before delving into the research, brainstorm the most likely arguments on both sides. Even if your ideas aren’t perfect, these brainstorming sessions will help you target your research in a specific direction; you’ll be much better off searching for evidence that supports or weakens specific claims rather than reading articles randomly.

Next, you can research the stakeholders and impacts of the topic. As you research, ask yourself who is affected by this policy: workers, families, marginalized communities, taxpayers, governments, or other actors? Then, think about the impacts on these groups, such as: economic downturn, political turmoil, or international conflict. These are two ideas that transfer across every debate topic, as different groups of people will inevitably be harmed or benefited by each topic. Thus, these research categories stay consistent even when topics change, making them incredibly useful for staying organized and for later weighing in rounds.

With this framework in place, it’s easier to move into deeper research: now, with strong background knowledge, you can begin to explore writing by think tanks, research organizations, or experts in the field. As you read, pay attention to important statistics, but also the reasoning behind them: ask yourself why an outcome happens or what assumptions the author is making. If you can explain the argument clearly out loud to yourself in simple, straightforward language, that’s a sign that you understand what you’re reading. If you can’t, it should be a sign to reread again or find a clearer source. As you collect evidence, organization matters more than volume—instead of saving every paragraph you come across, write a short explanation next to each article’s link that explains what it proves and why it matters in the context of the topic. If a piece of evidence doesn’t help you explain an impact or advance your argument, it probably isn’t worth keeping. It’s always better to have a smaller set of strong, understandable evidence than a massive file you don’t fully grasp. Also, make sure to research both sides! Understanding both of your cases and other common arguments on both sides of the topic makes you far more prepared for in-round exchange. Remember, your opponents are doing the same thing, so any argument you can come up with against your own case, prepares you for being able to defend against it during a round.

Once you’ve gathered your research, the final step is narrowing and applying it. Debate rewards depth, not breadth; choose a few strong arguments with clear impacts that you can defend confidently, then practice explaining them out loud, defending against common rebuttals, and weighing them against opposing arguments. One of the most important parts of research is how effectively you can use it in a round!

Overall, researching a new topic will always feel a little daunting at first, but it gets much easier when you rely on a consistent process. Every topic can be initially tackled the same way, and with the system I’ve outlined here, new topic releases will hopefully become less stressful and a lot more manageable—so you can start each first-tournament-of-the-topic feeling prepared and confident!