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What is Debate?

Debate, as an academic subject within communications, encompasses the structured examination of contested issues through reasoned argument, evidence, and rebuttal. It appears across disciplines ranging from political science and law to ethics, linguistics, and cultural studies. What makes debate academically compelling is its demand for both analytical rigor and rhetorical precision — students must not only understand an issue but construct and defend a position against opposing claims. The breadth of topics treated under this heading reflects how fundamental argumentation is to academic inquiry itself, touching on moral permissibility, policy, identity, economics, and justice.

Papers on this topic take a wide range of approaches. Some engage directly with ethical debates, examining questions such as the moral permissibility of abortion or the role race plays in the death penalty. Others are comparative, weighing the influence of historical events or contrasting cultural and religious frameworks such as Mahayana Buddhism or restorative justice models. Case-study approaches appear alongside policy analyses, including discussions of financing professional sports arenas or the international economics of trade. Research design and methodology also feature prominently, with some papers focusing on how to propose and justify an appropriate method for investigating a debatable question.

A strong essay on a debate topic requires a clearly scoped thesis that takes a defensible position rather than merely summarizing multiple viewpoints. Evidence drawn from credible primary and secondary sources — legal cases, scholarly research, historical records, or policy documents — carries the most weight. One common pitfall is treating both sides of an issue as equally supported when the available evidence actually favors one position; a well-argued essay acknowledges counterarguments but does not artificially balance an uneven evidentiary record.

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Pres Debate the October 3rd

President Obama was given the opportunity to give the first response in this debate, and immediately the practiced and purposeful use of techniques in his speech became clear. He looks directly at the camera, which is…

Research Paper Doctorate

Brief psychology questions and answers

Briefly describe the differences among positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment. Give examples of how each might be used to influence behavior.

Research Paper Doctorate

Racial Profiling in Airports

¶ … Racial profiling in airports [...] how terrorist attacks in America call for increasing racial profiling in airports, similar to Israel's El Al Airlines racial profiling tactics.

Research Paper Doctorate

Literature review methodologies and applications

Improper Attitude and Unprofessional Conduct of Teachers

Paper High School

Nature versus nurture in human development

This paper argues that my affinity for basketball is the result of both heredity and environment. Being good at the playing basketball requires certain traits, including physical agility, speed, strength, hand-eye…

Paper Doctorate

Socratic analogies and arguments for the soul's immortality in Platonic dialogues

This paper covers two questions, both dealing with the book "Great Dialogues of Plato." In this book, Plato describes the speeches of Socrates in the time of his trial and then at his death. In the piece, Plato uses several metaphors to define and help illustrate Socrates theories on life, the human soul, and the potential for education.

Individual Case Analysis Terri Schiavo

The Terri Schiavo case was an unusual incident where a person who should have been removed from life support long ago was sustained due to federal and public intervention. The case instigates moral and ethical questions of decision to end life as well as the limits of autonomy in surrogate decision making. Torke et al (2008) argue that guardian judgment is often used as decision-making when a patient lacks the cognitive abilities to decide treatment for herself. Surrogate decision-making, however, has its own flaws and should be replaced by something more rational. Using the Terri Schiavo case as base, the following essay argues that the decision whether or not to prolong a patient's life (or indeed any decision revolving on an incumbent or cognitively disabled patient) should focus on the patient's dignity and individuality rather than on his or her autonomy.

Research Paper Masters

Should Religious Symbols Be Worn in Schools

Many parents and students were confused, when a school district in Nebraska stopped a 12 years old girl, Elizabeth Carey from wearing a necklace because it resembled a rosary. Rev. Joseph Taphorn said to press that "One ought to be able to figure out whether she's trying to promote a gang," he added. "If she's not, why would she be punished for her right of religious freedom and religious expression? (Haynes)"

Paper Doctorate

Nonprofit Organizations and Board Term Limit Policy

There has been a significant amount of debate in the literature about what constitutes good corporate governance in regards to establishing term limits on members of the board of directors in non-profit organizations. The debate ranges from arguments that propose that any kind of term limit is unnecessary and could hinder the overall performance of the board, to some kind of term limit being a necessary requisite to proper board management. There are also arguments that rest in the middle of these two poles. For example, some charters will only allow board members to serve so many consecutive years. Thus, after taking some time off, a former board member would reset their clock and be able to return to the board after their break from this position. There are also many other variations and different strategies that are aimed at bridging the divide and creating a structure that facilitates good corporate governance.

Paper Doctorate

Project Management, Sustainability and Whole Lifecycle Thinking

Conversely, advocates of the "nurture" perspective believe that people are essentially blank slates, devoid of any preset programming inherited from their forbearers, who are shaped instead by the multitude of environmental factors which affect them from birth onward. In the case of Jamaican sprinting dominance, the nurture argument would claim that "any gene-centered explanation also dismisses the importance of a whole host of psycho-social and cultural factors that are likely to be major contributors to the success of Jamaican sprinters" (Kelland, 2012), including the prominence of short-distance sprinting in Jamaica and the country's substantial investment in training programs for promising young sprinters. This conception of identity also serves to explain one of history's more confounding conundrums, that of siblings, or even twins, who while sharing the same genetic makeup, end up following distinctly dissimilar paths through life. The nurture side of the debate was eloquently stated in 1973 by Ashley Monatgu, who stated in her book Man and Aggression that "man is man because he has no instincts, because everything he is and has become he has learned . . . from his culture, from the man-made part of the environment, from other human beings" (Montagu, 1973).

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