What it didn't say was how exactly, and up till now, I've never actually found that any of that experience has helped in the essays I've written significantly.
That all changed today during the last conversation I had with Malcolm, Gerald and Joash as we were preparing for our Economics papers.
The question posed was about the use of real-life examples, one of 3 pertinent demands of every essay that we write.
The answers offered were rather typical; stuff from Blink & Dorton, and the cursory mention of the current economic situation, particularly the rise and fall of the value of the US Dollar.
I had mostly been listening while packing my things getting ready to head home, whence I promptly offered my input into the discussion - Lie.
In 2004, during my first year in the Debate Excellence Programme, there was this plenary held during our first Debate Association camp, where one of our respected coaches, Mrs. C, handed out a sheet of paper titled "10 Things not to do as Debaters".
Item number 4 invariably stated, in capital letters no less, "Do Not Lie".
This was with obvious reference to the common habit of debaters to fabricate examples by pairing a country name with either a statistic or an event of dubious origin. As we gained experience year on year, our ability to dream up supporting evidence increased accordingly.
Hence, it is fair to say that I, along with my peers, are well versed in the art of finding an example to support the growth of terrorism via the internet, decry the failures of war crimes tribunals, or advocate free trade as the savior of the 3rd world.
It is with reference to the third that I had in mind when I offered my honest to goodness opinion in our discussion just now. This is for two reasons.
Firstly, reliance on Blink and Dorton is rather iffy because it was published in 2006. The world has changed epochally since then, and being able to tell me that Chad relied on the export of one commodity for 94% of its export revenue is no more valuable than me telling you that the burgeoning surplus of the Chinese current account by an average of 6.5% year-on-year for the period 2003-2007, which sounds plausible but is utterly untrue.
Secondly, contrary to a worrying comment about having marks taken away for falsities, examiners are only able to fault you for conceptual errata, not for a mistake in a "real-life" example. That's mainly because there is no viable way to tell if the mistake was genuinely made under exam conditions and the fact got muddled a little, or if it is an outright untruth.
Of course, the ease with which such evidence pops into our heads is an acquired skill, though not difficult to hone. That being said, the problem of examples in the Economics papers should not require massive research, list-making or any other headaches. Concepts first.
