The editor of the NDT transcripts since 1978 confirms statistically Professor Southworth's observations about the trend of debaters toward rapid speaking rates and garbled, incomprehensive reading of large quantities of evidence; also agrees that decisions ought to be rendered promptly after the debate. (PD)

Surveys literature published since 1960, dividing it into four categories of critical analyses. Evaluates current knowledge of presidential rhetoric and suggests directions for future research in this field of study. (PD)

Describes documents in the ERIC system on (1) theory about forensics, (2) the coach as teacher, (3) views from other disciplines. (PD)

Proposes several options for improving competency in judging forensic events, particularly judging seminars. (PD)

Although the author wished that there were absolute rights, as Joel Feinberg has argued there are, he presented an argument to the contrary. Among the points he attempted to establish was that there is no hard and fast distinction between legal rights and legal privileges as Feinberg has maintained. (Author/RK)

The nontechnical ability to identify or match argumentative structure is considered by many to be an important reasoning skill. Instruments that have questions designed to measure this skill include major standardized tests for graduate school admission, for example, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and…

People's conception of uniqueness in policy debate has changed dramatically in the past decade. Concepts like "we control uniqueness" and "direction of uniqueness" have come to dominate disadvantage debates. Unfortunately, policy debate has suffered as an activity as the result of some of these debating practices. In response, debaters and judges…

This paper considers the British thinker C.S. Lewis as a "forensic figure," defining "forensic" in the sense of public discussion and debate. The paper relates that, long before Lewis emerged as a public persuader, he learned to hold his own in private exchanges with William T. Kirkpatrick, his tutor from 1914-1917, and in…

Views argument as a means of correction whose purpose is to reform and purify knowledge. (SW)

Reexamines David Zarefsky's suggestion that the model of scientific hypothesis testing may offer a new debate paradigm. (PD)