Rwandz Private Technical

Institute Department: English

Academic Debate

Name: Dlgash Rasheed Rasul

Instructor: Mokhles S. Ibrahim

Academic Year: 2019-2020

Submitted In: 2020/6/15

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 Abstract
We know a research report is a part of our academic course of studying; choosing a topic
such as Academic Debate is really significant because it's one of the most important topics or
subjects we studied in our institute.

Firstly we can define debate as: a debate is a discussion or structured contest about an issue or a
resolution. A formal debate involves two sides: one supporting a resolution and one opposing it.
Such a debate is bound by rules previously agreed upon. Debates may be judged in order to
declare a winning side. Debates, in one form or another, are commonly used in democratic
societies to explore and resolve issues and problems. Also academic debate is simply defined as
a debate conducted under the supports of an educational institution aimed at providing
educational opportunities for its students. The purpose of an academic debate is to allow evenly
matched opponents to present balanced arguments and evidence about critical issues.

Some of the benefits students gained from their debate experience include awareness and
knowledge of social issues, development of critical thinking and communication ability,
appreciation of change, and respect for academic research. The philosophy of college debate, for
example, is “to learn not to win” because the most important thing is to be able to present both
sides of the issue and make a critical decision on matters concerning public interest.

The debate in a college or institute environment provides students opportunities to apply their
knowledge of debate principles, develop proper attitudes and skills, and experience almost real-
life debates. More importantly, debating is to keep political and public issues alive in the hearts
and minds of the academic community, so we got to know the significant of debating in the
classes.

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 List of Contents

Abstract: ….…………………………………………………….. 2

List of Contents: ………………………………………………………………………..3

Introduction: …………………………………………………………………………4

Main body: …………………………………………………………………………….5-6

Discussion: …………………………………………………………………………….7

Conclusion: ……………………………………………………………………………8

References: …………………………………………………………………………..9

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Introduction
To make you realize more about the subject let me start with these questions: what's debate?
Why academic debate? What's the importance of academic debate?
Debate is a communication process in which participants argue for and against a given topic.
There are many kinds of debate. Typical real-world debates may be found in a law court and a
legislative assembly such as a parliament, congress, or diet.
Some people think of a business meeting. An employee proposes a new marketing plan but
another opposes it. You and your friend may have an informal debate. You are talking about a
plan for the coming long weekend. You suggest a trip to a spa resort but your friend disagrees.
You can also debate by yourself. You are trying to make a future plan. “Do I want to go to a
graduate school or to find a job in a company?” You consider good points and bad points about
those two future plans. All these are daily examples of debate.
There are many reasons why people debate. The most important reason is to make the best
possible decision regarding an opinion. How can we arrive at the best decision? We want to hear
the best possible defense of the opinion and best possible attack against the opinion before we
decide. If someone tries his best to find reasons for the opinion and another tries her best to find
reasons against the opinion, we will be able to hear enough information to make our decision. If
they try to attack and defend each other’s arguments, we will be able to hear better reasons for
our decision.
*What is Academic Debate?
When you are using this report at home or in class, you will see debate as educational exercise.
This is called Academic or Educational Debate. Academic Debate is different from debate in the
real world like the above debate in the town meeting. In the real-world debate, the purpose is
often to decide the future plan of the participants. In Academic Debate, the primary purpose is
educational training. Suppose we have a debate in this class on whether we should build an
atomic plant in our town. Even if we decide to build it, it will not actually be built. There are
several characteristics of Academic Debate for maximizing its educational benefits. There are
strict rules of speaking in terms of time, order, the use of evidence, etc. Judges often give
criticism and advice for arguments regarding both contents and skills, as well as making a
decision. Academic Debate is offered as one type of speech course at colleges and institutes also
in high schools in some countries, where students are taught how to debate. It is also popular in
extracurricular activities and there are local and national level competitions.

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Main body

Academic debate is conducted on propositions in which the advocates have an academic

interest, and the debate typically is presented before a teacher, judge or audience without direct
power to render a decision on the proposition. Of course the audience in an academic debate
does form opinions about the subject matter of the debate, and that personal transformation may
ultimately lead to meaningful action. However, the direct impact of the audience decision in an
academic debate is personal, and the decision made by the judge is limited to identification of the
winner of the debate. In fact, in academic debate the judge may be advised to disregard the
merits of the proposition and to render her win/loss decision only on the merits of the support as
presented in the debate itself. The most important identifying characteristic of an academic
debate is that the purpose of the debate is to provide educational opportunities for the
participants.
As noted above, academic debate is conducted under the direction of an educational institution to
provide educational opportunities for students. Many schools and colleges conduct programs of
academic debate. The issue here is not whether we will participate in debate—our participation is
inevitable, because, sooner or later, most educated people will take part in some form of debate.
The issue is whether our participation will be effective. Academic debate can teach us to become
effective in this essential art. Because debating is an ancient discipline that is thriving in modern
educational institutions, we should consider some of the values of academic debate. Although
not all these values are unique to debate, a successful academic debate program is an important
means of attaining them. Indeed, for many students it is the best, and sometimes the only, means
of obtaining the benefits outlined here.
1. Debate Offers Preparation for Leadership.
2. Debate Provides Preparation for Effective Participation in a Democratic Society.
3. Debate Offers Training in Argumentation.
4. Debate Provides for Investigation and Intensive Analysis of Significant Contemporary Problems.
5. Debate Develops Proficiency in Critical Thinking.
6. Debate Is an Integrator of Knowledge.
7. Debate Encourages Student Scholarship.
8- Debate Progresses Courage.
In fact debate may be classified as special debate, judicial debate, parliamentary debate, or
nonformula debate. Also Academic Debate allows a variety of formats (such as the length and
number of speeches). The important point is that the affirmative and the negative sides have the
same amount of time for their speeches As indicated earlier, the debate described was in the
discussion format. The format used, the sizes of teams, the lengths of speeches and other factors
can of course be modified for various purposes. For competitive purposes in Newfoundland and
Labrador there are also a number of other formats used. The most popular formats of high school
debate in Eastern Canada and at most Canadian universities is parliamentary debate. In this
format the participants assume the roles and some of the conventions of members of the House
of Commons. This format lends itself to role-playing, and presentations tend to be a little more
dramatic. A popular format used at the high school level in Western Canada and much of the
United States is called Cross Examination. In this format, rather than having a discussion period,
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each speaker, after giving a constructive speech, is cross-examined by a member of the opposing
team. This often leads to some fairly exciting confrontation. All of the formats described to this
point are used in Newfoundland and Labrador. The use of debate in Newfoundland and Labrador
is growing as both a curricular and extra-curricular activity largely because of its educational
value. The most obvious benefit is the opportunities students have to develop and practice oral
skills. These skills are extremely important to academic and personal development, yet few
curriculum materials are available to support the teacher in fostering them. What makes debate
especially valuable for fostering development of oral skills is that it is not only structured, but
also interactive. Debate requires that participants listen, think and respond. It is not enough for
the debater to simply memorize and perform a speech. Instead, debaters must listen to their
opponents, engage in a questioning process and incorporate this information into their own
presentations. Debate is also an excellent way to develop critical thinking skills. The process of
researching a debate is one of examining the pros and cons of an issue, determining what the
problems are and considering alternative solutions. The research and presentation of a debate is
clearly a team effort, and participation in activities like debate explicitly develops the skills
needed to work in teams. Debate can also be used to explore issues in an area such as social
studies, economics or history. For example, one could have a debate on whether or not human
aggression is innate or learned. Whether or not a debate topic is related to a particular
curriculum, debate has a lot to offer participants. When promoting debate, educators usually do
not have to be sold on the value of the activity. The key concern is often how to go about getting
started. This is the reason that the Newfoundland and Labrador Speech and Debate Union and
the Newfoundland and Labrador Federated League of Debaters exists.

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Discussion:
1-What are the main purposes of academic posters?
The main purpose of an academic poster is to grab the attention of your chosen audience and
to inspire interest in your area of research. It should convey a strong central message. It aims to
relate your research project in a brief and concise manner using bold text and colourful graphics
to attract attention. They can be used for a variety of purposes. They can act as an advertisement
for your area of work, a way of sparking debate or as a tool for raising awareness of an issue. To
produce an effective academic poster there are a number of things to be considered.

2-Why do we need to put our experiences in CV?

The Curriculum Vitae is often needed to apply to graduate programs, employment in
academia or international organizations, and in certain professional fields. So that work experience
section is a crucial element on your CV because it shows that you have the necessary qualifications to be
an asset to your potential employer. It also provides substantial information in a limited space.
The work experience shows the hiring manager whether you have the necessary experience and skills to
succeed in the role you are applying for.  It tells the company that the person has some work
experience and can be given some type of work in their company if selected without having to
train them on the basis of what a company wants from their employees in terms of commitment
and hard work. It also provides them with the knowledge that if that kind of work is sometime in
the future is needed by the company then they can ask the employee to do it
3-Why do we need to have plan and prepare ourselves before presentations and seminars?
However you don’t need to memorize your presentation word-for-word, you do need to plan
it out. But before you begin to formulate the content of your presentation, you need to ask
yourself many basic questions with an eye to becoming the best possible presenter for that
particular audience. At the very least, you need to answer the basic “W questions.”
*Who is the audience? What are their backgrounds? How much background information about
your topic can you assume they bring to the presentation?
*What is the purpose of the event?
Is it to inspire? Are they looking for concrete practical information? Do they want more concepts
and theory rather than advice? Why were you asked to speak?
*What are their expectations of you?
*Where is it?
Find out everything you can about the location and logistics of the venue.
*When is it?
Do you have enough time to prepare? What time of the day? If there are other presenters, what is
the order (always volunteer to go first or last, by the way). What day of the week? All of this
matters.
No matter how great your delivery, or how professional and beautiful your supporting visuals, if
your presentation is not based on solid content, you can't succeed.

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Conclusion:
As indicated earlier about the important of debating we finally stretched that debating is
important because it develops skills and knowledge. It helps the students to become a confident
and bold person. And it will help the students to develop a political identity or own identity like a
debater. It also helps the students to develop a sense of ownership of the world and a sense of
empowerment, as they will know specific global and domestic issues, and the ways in which the
government can solve our generation’s problems. It will help them to boost their confidence.
Even debate in the classroom can be an end in itself, or it can be used as a way to facilitate
research and discussion of an issue in the curriculum. Whether it is used for the latter purpose or
not, the recipients will benefit from developing public speaking skills, critical thinking skills,
research skills and teamwork skills. It is possible to develop competency in debate without
speech training. There is no question, however, that a student's competence in debate will
develop more rapidly if accompanied by some training in public speaking. If you choose to get
right into debate, this competence in public speaking will come with time and practice. Also
decisions at a board meeting, public hearing, legislative assembly, or local organization are often
reached through discussion and debate. The use of debate in Newfoundland and Labrador is
growing as both a curricular and extra-curricular activity largely because of its educational value.
The most obvious benefit is the opportunities students have to develop and practice oral skills.
These skills are extremely important to academic and personal development, yet few curriculum
materials are available to support the teacher in fostering them. What makes debate especially
valuable for fostering development of oral skills is that it is not only structured, but also
interactive. Debate requires that participants listen, think and respond. It is not enough for the
debater to simply memorize and perform a speech. Instead, debaters must listen to their
opponents, engage in a questioning process and incorporate this information into their own
presentations. Debate is also an excellent way to develop critical thinking skills. The process of
researching a debate is one of examining the pros and cons of an issue, determining what the
problems are and considering alternative solutions. The research and presentation of a debate is
clearly a team effort, and participation in activities like debate explicitly develops the skills
needed to work in teams. Debate can also be used to explore issues in an area such as social
studies, economics or history. For example, one could have a debate on whether or not human
aggression is innate or learned. Whether or not a debate topic is related to a particular
curriculum, debate has a lot to offer participants. When promoting debate, educators usually do
not have to be sold on the value of the activity. The key concern is often how to go about getting
started.

In the end, you may actually practice Academic Debate or not, it will be a great asset for you
to develop the skills and attitudes in critical thinking and strategic communication illustrated
in this report.

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References:
1. [Link]
2. Let’s Practice Debating in English: by Narahiko INOUE
3. Argumentation and Debate: by AUSTIN J. FREELEY & DAVID L. STEINBERG
4. [Link]/Talent/Debating
5. [Link]/media/services/supi/[Link]