The Tools I Use To Research Like a Pro
Over the past 7 days, I've been preparing for a debate tournament. While doing so, I've been exploring different research tools to maximize my productivity. Here are the tools I used the most.
Introduction
Today and yesterday, I participated at an online debate tournament. In this tournament, I participated in the Congressional debate a category, a debate event where people are expected to be experts on a variety of topics. For this tournament, I had to prepare affirmative and negative speeches on 4 different topics: behavior modification programs for troubled teens, the American pharmaceutical supply chain, medical autonomy of minors, and federal education funding.
Now, I’m definitely not a pro at research or writing speeches (what can I say, it’s a good title). But to fully understand and be able to write speeches on 4 completely different topics in less than a week is a tough task. And that’s exactly what I did. Here are the core tools I used:
Quick Notes
An important tool I used was Quick Notes. Before I write speeches, I like to take an hour of research to understand the topic I’m debating. Using quick notes, I recorded the sources I read in case I wanted to use them as evidence in my speeches. In addition, I wrote down potential argument ideas I could use.
After I finished researching my topic, I would choose arguments I wanted to use in my debate rounds. And that’s where the next tool comes in.
GoodLinks
GoodLinks is a paid Safari browser extension which lets users download online articles. In addition to downloading articles, you can also export them, share them, print them, and more. And while I usually prefer free or freemium apps, GoodLinks has been a great app to use (and I had a $5 Apple gift card).
For debate, GoodLinks is an important tool. At many tournaments, we’re not allowed to look up information during the debate round or access internet (that or the internet could be really bad).
I use GoodLinks as a tool to save all evidence I plan on using during my round. Using the tagging feature on GoodLinks, I can organize articles based on which topic they fall under.
In addition, I can edit the title of the article in GoodLinks, meaning that I can further organize my evidence by position (affirmative or negative).
Notion
The final core tool I used for researching and writing speeches was Notion. I would assume that the majority of you know what Notion is. If not, you can check out the official Notion website here. In summary, Notion is essentially a note-taking tool with a massive variety of different abilities that make it useful for all iPad users.
Notion is where the creative stuff takes place. It’s where I begin to write my speeches.
First, I start with a debate “dashboard.” This is where I can access all of my speeches for each debate tournament I participate in.
Using the evidence from GoodLinks and arguments from Quick Notes, I combine my evidence and my thoughts to create a pre-written speech. But in congressional debate, only the first speakers should use a pre-written speech. After that, speakers should start refuting (arguing against) opposition points or bring up new unique points. And this is where my extensive research with Quick Notes helps out.
Conclusion
In conclusion, three things made up my core research tools: Quick Notes, GoodLinks, and Notion (and Safari as well if you want to count it).
Thanks for reading this post!
Adi