The program provides expertise in the history, methods, and applications of argumentation scholarship as this interdisciplinary field has developed in the last six decades. We define argumentation as collaborative or competitive reasoning through verbal or visual means by which people strive to persuade others on any topic where information, knowledge, or claims conflict or are inconsistent. Different ways for analyzing and evaluating people’s arguments address the methods and principles that may be involved, and provide the core subject matter for Argumentation Studies. This will include some attention to policy agendas, interpersonal reasoning, and individual cognition.