Chapter 5
Research
Finding and Recording Evidence

1. Introduction
Research is a very important activity in academic debate.  Of course, we can debate certain propositions with our own knowledge.  But in many cases, you don't know much about the proposition in the beginning of your preparation.  Even if you know the topic well, you still want more information to support your arguments when you prepare for speeches.  Fortunately or unfortunately, we live in the age of information explosion; we are surrounded by a vast amount of information from books, magazines, newspapers, TV programs, the Internet, etc.  In order to find necessary information for our debate, we need a systematic way to conduct research.  For this purpose, this chapter will outline a method of finding and recording evidence for debate.

2. Sources of Information for Debate

2.1. Published Sources

dictionaries
encyclopedias
books
articles in periodicals (magazines and newspapers)
electronic sources
CD-ROMs
through the Internet


2.2. Using Indices

library catalogues
card catalogues
computer catalogues
indices
books in print
periodical indices
electronic indices
CD-ROMs
abstracts
the Internet


3. Recording Information

3.1. Bibliographic Information
author.  date of publication. (title of article). title of book (periodical). page number. publisher
e.g.,
 

  1. Freeley, Austin J.  1993.  Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making.  8th ed.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
  2. Warner, Judith, Anna Esaki-Smith, and Ron Moreau.  1996.  "Whose Internet Is It?"  Newsweek, April 22, pp. 58-62.
  3. 竹下英男・他．１９７８．『現代労働法（１）--集団的労使関係--』． 東京：有斐閣．
 
3.2. Qualification of Authors

3.3. Copying the Texts
Make photocopies of necessary parts of the text.  If you copy by handwriting, do not change anything in the text.  You may want to paraphrase a quotation later in preparing speeches but NOT at the time of collecting information.

4. Research via the Internet
There is vast amount of information available on the Internet.  You can try the following "pages" to start your research.

4.1. Searching for Information on Traditional Media
4.2. Searching for Information on the Internet

some research tools    (updated page in Japanese)


4.3. Recording Information
For Internet resources, your record should include author's name, year of publication (last update), title of the article (web page), URL (Uniform Resource Location, i.e., address on the Internet), month and day of last update, and accessed date.  A sample entry is given below:

Inoue, Narahiko.  1997.  Internet Research Tools.  Http://www.rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~inouen/research-j.html.  Last updated: November 25.  Accessed: November 25, 1997.
Exercise
Make a list of books and articles relevant to the topic.  Include complete bibliographic information for each entry.  Divide the work among the group members; e.g., one member taking care of newspapers, another making a list of books in the library.  You do not need to read those books and articles on the list.  Or you can divide your work based on medium of research (location of research) e.g., Ropponmatsu Library, Central Library, Fukuoka City Library, Fukuoka Prefectural Library, etc.

If you are using electronic media such as the Internet, you should save your search results in a computer file AND print out on paper.  You should submit the both to the instructor by the due date.