How to win a debate, Presidential or otherwise_美文

How to win a debate, Presidential or otherwise

President Obama and former governor Mitt Romney have teams of advisors and aides to help them prepare for their three debates. But what about the rest of us who would like some help winning an argument -- at work, at school or at home?

For advice, we asked two experts at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Allan Louden chairs the Department of Communication. Assistant professor Jarrod Atchison is the director of debate. His first piece of advice is to know your audience.

JARROD ATCHISON: "Before you know if you've won or lost, you have to know who the audience is or who the judge is. And so in everyday argumentation some people think that logic alone will prevail when sometimes that's not the most persuasive form of argument in a given situation. So you have to know your audience and what they consider to be relevant information for the debate at hand."

Second, find a "universal principle" that everyone in the room -- from the audience members to your opponent -- can agree to. Mr. Atchison says if you argue from that principle, "then you don't have to fight the fight about the basics of the evidence."

Third, he says the best debaters are the best listeners. They listen to what their opponent is saying, instead of just repeating their own position.

And fourth, he says, be "very careful in deploying history in argumentation." Some people think that having one strong historical example to support their side will win the argument. But their opponents may have other historical examples to support their side.