Learning to Debate: An Introduction to Analysis and Advocacy

Written in an accessible style, this textbook introduces undergraduate students to the theoretical and practical aspects of debate and outlines the fundamental skills of analysis and advocacy.

Debate teaches students how to solve the problems that we face in everyday and public situations. This book allows readers to face such problems head on by equipping them with the knowledge and skills to analyze a situation, propose solutions, and present debates and arguments in a persuasive manner. Organized into two parts, the book begins by laying the theoretical foundations and offering a step-by-step guide to debate. Students are shown how to compare pros and cons, test evidence and reasoning, and defend and develop their own positions. Each chapter in part two explores key sample constructive, rebuttal, and summary debate speeches and includes exercises and assignments to allow students to actively engage with the material and experience debate in the classroom.

Providing students with the tools to become responsible members of a democratic society, Learning to Debate: An Introduction to Analysis and Advocacy is an ideal textbook for undergraduate Argumentation and Debate and Speech Communication courses.

Material for instructors, including PowerPoint slides and an instructor’s manual, is available at https: //routledge.com/9781032671390.

Takeshi Suzuki is a Professor of Communication in the School of Information and Communication at Meiji University, Japan. He is a former president of the Japan Debate Association (JDA), and a former vice-president of the Japan Association of Media English Studies (JAMES).

David Zarefsky is Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus of Argumentation and Debate, and Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at Northwestern University, USA.