The Tools I Use To Research Like a Pro

3 Accessories and Apps That Help Me Build Effective Arguments

Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash

I compete in a pretty challenging high school event: yelling at people in a room (also known as debate).

Research is an important part of my preparation for debate tournaments: without it, I’ll almost definitely get last place.

After nearly three and a half years of debating, I’ve been able to create an effective research process through trial-and-error.

Here are the tools I use to research like a pro:

The Rocketbook

Photo Credit: Rocketbook

The Rocketbook is a powerful accessory for any iPad user. While some might see the two technologies as competitors (I used to as well), I see them as two similar accessories you can use together.

At under $30, the Rocketbook isn’t nearly as expensive as other iPad accessories. And for the value it provides (at least to me), it’s worth it.

The Rocketbook is the closest you can get to a pen-and-paper version of GoodNotes: an erasable notebook. I use the Rocketbook to gather research and create speeches by combining my research into effective arguments.

There are two main benefits of using the Rocketbook to deliver speeches over the iPad:

• My 12.9” iPad Pro is massive - holding it up for five minutes not only hurts my hands, but also increases the risk of dropping the expensive device. The Rocketbook acts as a more durable and less expensive replacement during speeches.

• This is more niche, but judges generally prefer the Rocketbook over the iPad when delivering speeches (it makes me appear less reliant on technology)

GoodNotes

In terms of apps, GoodNotes is essential for my research.

I use GoodNotes to do the creative part of my research: sketching out ideas for arguments until I find one I like. I also use GoodNotes to visually connect specific pieces of evidence to specific arguments that I make.

In other words, GoodNotes is the center of brainstorming during my research: it’s where the creative stuff happens.

Safari

Photo Credit: Apple

99% of my evidence comes from the internet. And as my main browser, that makes Safari pretty important for my research.

I specifically use Tab Groups to organize my research: The ability to separate different debate topics helps when I’m writing speeches.

That feature is especially important given my style of debate—I do Congressional debate, where anywhere from 5 to 30 topics could be discussed at each tournament (I’ve probably researched 100+ topics over the past few years). With this wide diversity of topics, the separation of ideas is critical.

GoodLinks

At just $4.99, GoodLinks is incredibly worth it.

I’ve used it for more than a year to save articles offline and view them without being blasted with ads. That means I don’t have to search through my browsing history to find evidence: I can just dump everything in GoodLinks and search through the app to find what I need.

This is useful for two reasons:

• In rounds, I can quickly find any relevant articles if I want to cite them but haven’t written them down in my Rocketbook yet

• In future rounds, I can refer back to pieces of evidence I’ve used in prior tournaments, which can be useful if the topics debated at two different tournaments are similar (this has happened multiple times previously)

Final Thoughts

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose” - Zora Neale Hurston

Thanks for reading!

Adi