TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSONS

I. WHAT ARGUMENTATION IS

II. WHAT DEBATE IS

III. THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL DEBATING

IV. DETERMINING THE ISSUES

V. HOW TO PROVE THE ISSUES

VI. THE BRIEF. THE CHOICE AND USE OF EVIDENCE

VII. THE FORENSIC

VIII. REFUTATION

IX. MANAGEMENT OF THE DEBATE

X. A SUMMARY AND A DIAGRAM

APPENDICES

I. HOW AND WHERE TO READ FOR MORE INFORMATION

II. ILLUSTRATIONS OF ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE THE ISSUES OF THE QUESTION

III. A TYPICAL COLLEGE FORENSIC

IV. MATERIAL TOR BRIEFING

V. QUESTIONS WITH SUGGESTED ISSUES AND BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY

VI. A LIST OF DEBATABLE PROPOSITIONS

VII. FORMS FOR JUDGES' DECISION

LESSON I

WHAT ARGUMENTATION IS

I. The purpose of discourse

II. The forms of discourse:
1. Narration
2. Description
3. Exposition
4. Argumentation

When we pause to look about us and to realize what things are really
going on, we discern that everyone is talking and writing. Perhaps we
wonder why this is the case. Nature is said to be economical. She
would hardly have us make so much effort and use so much energy
without some purpose, and some purpose beneficial to us. So we
determine that the purpose of using language is to convey meaning, to
give ideas that we have to someone else.

As we watch a little more closely, we see that in talking or writing
we are not merely talking or writing something. We see that everyone,
consciously or unconsciously, clearly or dimly, is always trying to do
some definite thing. Let us see what the things are which we may be
trying to do.

If you should tell your father, when you return from school, how
Columbus discovered America on October 12, 1492, and should try to
make him see the scene on shipboard when land was first sighted as
clearly as you see it, you would be describing. That kind of discourse
would be called description. Its purpose is to make another see in his
mind's eye the same image or picture that we have in our own.

On the other hand, if you wished to tell him the story of the
discovery of America, you would do something quite different. You
would tell him not only of the first sight of land, but of the whole
series of incidents which led up to that event. If he could follow you
readily, could almost live through the various happenings that you
related, you would be telling your story well. That kind of di