This last week, I was able to appear on Danielle Miller’s podcast, Head Start to discuss summer research. Danielle is an exemplary student and a formidable competitor.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is seeing students grow over the entirety of their speech and debate careers. Seeing Danielle go from novice to national contender, and more importantly, seeing her grow into a strong, thoughtful individual, taking the very best lessons from her forensics experience. Danielle and her partner, Clare Cey, recently placed second at the NCFCA National Championship, and we couldn’t be more proud.

If you want to go into the debate season swinging, summer research is key. Students generally falter in summer research in two ways. Either they go far too broad, reading books and watching videos that they forget a week after consuming, or get incredibly specific, drafting neg briefs and case outlines before understanding the entire scope of the resolution. The key is treating summer research as a time for exploration, not shopping.

Danielle and I had an in-depth conversation about researching and preparing over the summer. We discussed viewing research through a lens of discovery and exploration, how to think about picking a case, what to consider when cutting evidence, how to collect summer research, what are the secrets to finding good evidence, different philosophies of justice, and so much more.

To read more about early season preparation, check out our early season playbook and our guide to researching a new debate topic. For NCFCA TP students, check out our posts on the 8 types of justice and how to deal with them and the 6 arguments against justice, parts 1 and 2.

You can listen to our interview on Soundcloud here or Spotify here. If you’re interested in scheduling a session to better prepare for the debate season, book a session today or send me an email at drew@acepeak.org.