Argumentation Theory, Research, and Pedagogy

Workshop Leader: David Zarefsky, Northwestern University

Workshop Leader:

David Zarefsky, Northwestern University

The subfield of argumentation crosses disciplinary lines among English, writing studies, and communication, and is commonly part of the undergraduate curriculum of each. Yet many strong graduate programs in rhetoric do not give major emphasis to argumentation, creating a gap that this workshop will try to address. The workshop will have three parts: (1) an overview of contemporary developments in argumentation theory, including informal logic, pragma-dialectics, public sphere theory, artificial intelligence, and others; this part of the workshop will reprise the highlights of the Seminar in Argumentation at the 2013 RSA Institute; (2) critical examination of participants’ research projects in progress or proposed, with the aim of strengthening them; and (3) identification of problems in teaching argumentation and sharing creative approaches. The workshop is intended for participants at any stage of their career who are relatively new to the contemporary subfield of argumentation.

Questions should be directed to David Zarefsky, d-zarefsky@northwestern.edu.