Italic brackets

The italic brackets convention is a method of handling text added to evidence cards. Text that has been added for clarification is placed in italicized brackets, while bracketed text from the original quote is left unitalicized. For example:


 * "It may be doubted that any system of thought arranged upon the lines herewith proposed can be a success. [Quoting P. Q. Smith:] The fact of its accomplishment alone [important as it must be] is no proof of method. For instance, the correct relation between any two facts must be investigated along the lines of thought best correlated to these facts." -- Gelett Burgess

In the above example, the phrase [Quoting P. Q. Smith:] has been added for clarification, while the phrase [important as it must be] was in the original text. This system is substantially simpler than the conventional method, which would require adding a note such as (first set of brackets added, second in original) to the source citation. Instead of having to decipher the note - which could easily be lost or omitted by accident - the debater reading the evidence need only glance at the formatting.

While the precise origins of the italic brackets convention are unclear, most current usage traces back to the version invented by Daniel Gaskell and popularized by the COG sourcebook. Other debaters have since adopted the practice.