Introduction to Argumentation & Debate (old)

This book has been replaced with a revised and retitled book called Introduction to Policy Debate. You do not need both titles!

Damascus, Oregon, 1998: Gini Winslow, mother of a tenacious firstborn son, spotted an advertisement for a homeschool debate tournament. She decided to purchase the Introduction to Argumentation and Debate set from HSLDA, called up the mother of her son's best friend, and they formed a debate "team."

The book arrived about a month before the Oregon State tournament. Gini read the book and they all watched the videos. With a week to go before the competition, the two boys hunkered down in the Winslows' camping trailer, armed with a laptop, printer, and twelve Mountain Dews. They worked hard, researched their topic, called and met with experts, and, after watching one debate and participating in half of another, they went armed to the Oregon State competition. Surprisingly, though they were learning as they went, they won and went on to nationals! Thus began the influence of this book in the history of Oregon debate.

Within three years, Gini led seven teams to the national tournament, including several top ten placements. The success of each and every team can be credited to many different accounts, but they all have one fundamental similarity: every student had their debate theory foundation firmly set in this text.

That said, there is nothing particularly special about this text that will make one a national champion. However, it must be remembered that a student should be firmly grounded in the fundamentals before proceeding on to the more complex skills. An Introduction to Argumentation and Debate does an excellent job of concisely and succinctly instructing teachers and students in the fundamentals of debate. Broken into nine chapters, this book covers the basics of debate with brief and clear descriptions. The initial chapter seeks to simply bring the reader into the world of debate and offer a frame of reference with which to make sense of the rest of the book. The second and third chapters serve as a crash course in the rudiments of logic and evidential research—the foundation of any debate (as well as any argument in life). Chapters four through seven focus on the "how-to" of debate theory for both sides of the debate. Chapters eight and nine focus on speech delivery with specific instructions to each speaker in the debate rounds. (There are four speakers in every debate round—two teams with two members each. Every speaker has three "speeches": a constructive speech, a rebuttal, and a cross-examination.)

An Introduction to Argumentation and Debate is just that: an introduction. It is not meant to be an exhaustive work expositing the complete elements of, or a full "how-to" manual for debate. On the other hand, it is an excellent overview of cross-examination debate without reading a thick textbook. Easily read in a day or two.

Written by Christy Shipe (the daughter of HSLDA president Michael Farris).

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction to Debate
2. Logic
3. Evidence and Research
4. Affirmative Stock Issues
5. Affirmative Case Construction
6. Negative Arguments
7. Speaker Responsibilities
8. Speech and Delivery
9. The Debate Round: What to Expect
   Resources
   Index