Evidence Autopsy
Trace one card from a brief back to its source: read the full article, judge what the card left out, and rewrite the tag to match what the evidence actually proves.
Choose any card from a brief, yours or a published one. Before reading the source, write down what you think the evidence proves based only on the tag and highlighting.
Now find and read the full article. Answer three questions: Does the author actually conclude what the tag claims? What qualifiers or counter-evidence did the cut leave out? Is the author qualified on this specific question?
Rewrite the tag to say what the evidence proves and no more. Most debaters are surprised how often the honest tag is weaker than the printed one. Doing this regularly makes you the person in the round who knows what the cards actually say, and that wins evidence comparisons all season.
Variations
Opponent autopsy
Do the same with the most common card on the other side of the current topic, and bring what you find to the next round’s evidence exchange.