Stoner and Swartwood's Doing Practical Ethics is the first book to offer a framework for acquiring the component skills required to philosophize about applied ethics. The book accomplishes this by providing clear Explanations and models of basic argument and critical thinking skills, Demonstration Exercises with solutions that provide clear and immediate feedback, and further Practice Exercises for honing skills.

This skill-focused textbook can be used in any intro to ethics or intro to contemporary moral problems course. It is equally useful for any applied ethics course, such as Bioethics, Business Ethics, and Environmental Ethics. It teaches students, through practice, how to analyze, evaluate, and construct moral arguments. Most instructors would also assign a reader or a set of custom readings.