[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-168323-en":3,"doc-seo-168323-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":11,"category_id":12,"category_name":13,"doc_title":14,"doc_description":15,"doc_content":16,"file_id":17,"file_url":18,"file_type":19,"file_size":20,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":15,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},168323,1099523885074,"Riley West","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc",1,18,"Letters","How to Cut Cards - Debate Evidence MLA Citation","Guide to preparing “cut cards” for debate by locating credible evidence, extracting 1–2 relevant paragraphs, and organizing them for quick use. The process covers choosing sources for current events, deeper analysis, and high-level research databases, then creating a complete MLA citation above the selected excerpt. It also explains writing a concise claim that connects evidence to the debate topic, followed by formatting steps like highlighting key sentences and reducing remaining text to save space while preserving context and intent.","How to Cut Cards\nModified with permission of Tara Tate, Glenbrook South HS\n“Cutting Cards” is debate lingo for finding evidence and putting it into a format suitable for easy consumption for debate.  The process is really the same for any debate event, so this applies to Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, or even Policy Debate.  Here goes:\n1.  Find an article on your topic with information you believe is pertinent/important/credible.  Use some common sense when considering sources and you should be fine.  Here are some potentially good starting points:\nCurrent Event focused evidence\nChristian Science Monitor - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.csmonitor.com/\" \u0014http://www.csmonitor.com/\u0015 - One of the best sources for information on current events, updated daily.\nLA Times - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.latimes.com/\" \u0014http://www.latimes.com/\u0015 - One of the “major papers” in the United States.\nNew York Times – \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.nytimes.com\" \u0014http://www.nytimes.com\u0015 - One of the “major papers” in the United States.\nWashington Post - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.washingtonpost.com\" \u0014http://www.washingtonpost.com\u0015 - One of the “major papers” in the United States.\nTime - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.time.com/time/\" \u0014http://www.time.com/time/\u0015 - Another magazine devoted to current events.\nU.S. News and World Report - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm\" \u0014http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm\u0015 - Another magazine devoted to current events.\nCNN – \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.cnn.com\" \u0014http://www.cnn.com\u0015 – A good, general news site.\nGallup Poll - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.galluppoll.com/\" \u0014http://www.galluppoll.com/\u0015 - One of the nation’s leading polling services, great for using in introductions.\nDeeper Analysis focused evidence\nCato Institute – \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.cato.org\" \u0014http://www.cato.org\u0015 – The Cato Institute is a large organization with information divided by topic area.\nHeritage Foundation - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.heritage.org/\" \u0014http://www.heritage.org/\u0015 - The Heritage Foundation is another “think tank” organization like Cato, just on the opposite political spectrum.\nBrookings Institute - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.brook.edu/\" \u0014http://www.brook.edu/\u0015 - Another “think tank” like Cato.\nCongressional Quarterly - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.cq.com\" \u0014http://www.cq.com\u0015 – Information about Congress and what is happening in the United States.\nForeign Affairs - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.foreignaffairs.org/\" \u0014http://www.foreignaffairs.org/\u0015 - A website regarding foreign policies.\nForeign Policy – \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.foreignpolicy.com\" \u0014http://www.foreignpolicy.com\u0015 – A website regarding, you guessed it, foreign policy.\nFinancial Times - \u0013 HYPERLINK \"http://www.ft.com/home/us\" \u0014http://www.ft.com/home/us\u0015 - Great source for information about the business world.\nLegal Briefs and other High Level evidence\nDo you have a brother/sister/friend in college who wants to let you use their login information?  Great!  Explore using Lexis-Nexis, JSTOR, and/or Project Muse.  Through your NSDA account, you may also have access to Hein Online—check with your coach. Great databases, once mastered.  Not for the faint of heart though – but invaluable once you learn to master them.\n2.  Copy your card.  Read the article and find 1-2 paragraphs that give a specific point which you feel is important.  You should include all relevant info from the article that deals with the particular issue you want to discuss.  If you feel there are multiple “cards” from a single article, no problem – just make them different cards.  Copy and paste the content into Word or the word processing program of your choice.  YES – I said copy/paste – how often have you heard someone tell you to do that?\n3.  Make your MLA citation.  Above your 1-2 paragraphs, give a full MLA citation for your evidence.  YES – every single piece of evidence should have this information available.  You may not always need it in a round, but when it is asked for – you must have it available upon request.  All evidence ","cbCaianqTkQHiWiQ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaianqTkQHiWiQ","docx",456178,4,"English","en",105,"# How to Cut Cards\n## Finding credible evidence\n## Copying evidence and selecting key paragraphs\n## Creating MLA citations\n## Writing the claim\n## Cutting and formatting the card","[{\"question\":\"What does “cutting cards” mean in debate?\",\"answer\":\"It means finding evidence and formatting it so it is easy to consume during debate. The same process works across formats such as Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, and Policy Debate.\"},{\"question\":\"How should you choose evidence sources?\",\"answer\":\"Use common-sense judgment and focus on credible information. Start with current-event sources like major newspapers, magazines, and polling services, then use deeper analysis from think tanks or policy sites, and high-level evidence via databases such as Lexis-Nexis, JSTOR, or Project Muse.\"},{\"question\":\"What steps are involved in preparing a debate card?\",\"answer\":\"Copy 1–2 relevant paragraphs, add a full MLA citation above the excerpt, write a short claim connecting the evidence to your topic, then highlight the most important sentences and shrink the remaining text (e.g., to a small font size) while keeping the original context.\"}]","How to Cut Cards - Debate Evidence MLA Citation | DOCX",1788229068,2,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":14,"keywords":34,"description":15,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":84,"head_meta":86,"extra_data":88,"updated_unix":28},"how-to-cut-cards-debate-evidence-mla-citation","",{"@graph":36,"@context":83},[37,52,66],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":29},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",{"item":48,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/letters/",3,{"item":51,"name":14,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/how-to-cut-cards-debate-evidence-mla-citation/168323/",{"url":51,"name":14,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":14,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":15,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":60,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":61,"interactionStatistic":62},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":41,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document","2026-09-01",true,{"@type":63,"interactionType":64,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":65},"ViewAction",{"@type":67,"mainEntity":68},"FAQPage",[69,75,79],{"name":70,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":72},"What does “cutting cards” mean in debate?","Question",{"text":73,"@type":74},"It means finding evidence and formatting it so it is easy to consume during debate. The same process works across formats such as Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, and Policy Debate.","Answer",{"name":76,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":77},"How should you choose evidence sources?",{"text":78,"@type":74},"Use common-sense judgment and focus on credible information. Start with current-event sources like major newspapers, magazines, and polling services, then use deeper analysis from think tanks or policy sites, and high-level evidence via databases such as Lexis-Nexis, JSTOR, or Project Muse.",{"name":80,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":81},"What steps are involved in preparing a debate card?",{"text":82,"@type":74},"Copy 1–2 relevant paragraphs, add a full MLA citation above the excerpt, write a short claim connecting the evidence to your topic, then highlight the most important sentences and shrink the remaining text (e.g., to a small font size) while keeping the original context.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":85,"og:title":14,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":15},"article",{"robots":87,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":90},[91,96,101,106,111,116,121,124,129],{"id":92,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":97,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":102,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":107,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":112,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":117,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":12,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":13,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},30,"letters",{"id":125,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":130,"doc_module":11,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":132},158,"General","general-158"]