Argumentation and Debate

Widely praised, ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE, 13E, uses a clear, concise, and engaging presentation that makes even complex material easy for students to understand. The authors have adapted the text over the years to match changing practices in debate and teaching while preserving classical and conventional approaches to learning debate. This edition retains its rhetorical roots with a flexible tone open to a diverse array of debate styles that is appropriate in the contemporary context. It values the importance of inclusion and sensitivity to differences of culture, gender, orientation, class and other factors as they impact communicative choices and argumentation. The authors have a preference for team topic evidence-based policy debate; however, the text strives to offer viable tools for a wide range of readers interested in improving their critical thinking for reasoned decision making.

This comprehensive introduction to the principles and practice of argumentation and debate uses a clear, concise, and engaging presentation that makes even complex material easy to understand. ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE features concepts, argumentation models, practical guides, and real-life scenarios that you use to enhance your skills in academic debates. With an emphasis on critical thinking, reasoned decision making, and advocacy skills, this text empowers you to participate actively as citizens in a democratic society.

David L. Steinberg has been The University of Miami's director of debate since 1990. His teams are respected, successful, and have won many awards. They participate in competitive policy debate, parliamentary debate, and frequent public debates. Steinberg was the president of the Cross Examination Debate Association in 2006-2007. CEDA is the professional organization which sponsors and represents intercollegiate policy debate teams in the United States. Steinberg serves in national leadership positions in the American Forensic Association and the National Communication Association. At The University of Miami, he is a lecturer in Communication Studies and teaches courses in Communication Theory, Persuasion, Rhetorical Theory and Criticism, Organizational Communication, Political Communication, Public Speaking, Business Communication, and Argumentation and Debate. His research and scholarly efforts include Argument in the Public Sphere, Political Communication and Campaign Debates, Academic Debate and Pedagogy, and Rhetorical Criticism. Steinberg is adviser to the Miami Dade Urban Debate League, Lambda Pi Eta Communication Studies Honorary, The National Communication Association Student Club at UM, and the UM Chapter of Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha National Forensics Honorary. Steinberg has served as a mentor in the UM Student Athlete Mentoring Program and is a lecturer for the Butler Center for Leadership and Service, the University of Miami Freshman Experience, and the Intensive English Program. He holds a Master's Degree in Communication from The University of Tennessee and has completed significant post-graduate work in Communication Studies, Education, and Human Resource Development from The Pennsylvania State University and from Florida International University. Prior to joining the faculty at UM, Steinberg taught and directed debaters at Middle Tennessee State, Penn State, George Mason, and Towson Universities.