Basic Debate : 4th Edition

One of better overall debate books out there. Could use an update to include Public Forum Debate. Congress chapters very good. Great bok for beginning debate clas.

A very useful "nuts and bolts" book that could be successfully used in any classroom to teach the fundamentals of beginning debate. It is not, however, a book for advanced debaters who would find it simplistic and a "rehash" of already acquired skills.

This is a good resource for teachers of debate; however, I found it a little difficult for students to understand without a lot of guidance from me. The language is a little technical, but for my use in the classroom it was adequate.

Focusing on the major types of debate that common for high school students, this book is designed to serve as a primer on debate, although it would be a useful resource for more experienced debaters also. The first several chapters deal with the building blocks for argumentation -- analysis, research and reasoning, with exercises and discussion topics included after each chapter. The authors then turn to a nuts-and-bolts coverage of the three most common types of debate -- Lincoln-Douglas Debate (where the debate centers on a value propositions); Two-man or policy debate (where the debate centers on a broad question of public policy, such as foreign trade or education reform); and Student Congress, or parliamentary debate (where the debate is conducted pursuant to Roberts Rules of Order and the discussion centers on specific items of mock legislation). This nuts-and-bolts section covers the essential elements of a case, the relevant burdens of proof and argumentation, and the particular skills that are so important to each type of debate. The book seems to be designed for easy use as a textbook (a Teachers Guide is also available from Amazon), but it would work well as a resource for self-study, too.


I was involved in competitive Forensics through all of high school and college, both as a student and as a coach. Based on that experience, it is even more obvious to me what a difficult undertaking the authors must have faced when putting together this book. Debate is, after all, an activity that really can only be learned by jumping in and doing it. This text is the perfect supplement to that type of a teaching program. Students can get a quick handle on the fundamentals, start having debates, and then use the text as a resource for lessons as those debates present them with problems. This book is an ideal learning tool, with plenty of examples and exercises, and it is written in a straightforward, accessible fashion.


I have reviewed a number of these types of books, and Basic Debate may be the best debate book available for teaching and coaching debate at the high school level