<p>For those of you involved in forensics, could you offer your opinion, and give me a bit of information about the activity?</p>
<p>It's WAYYYYY different than they make it look on TV.</p>
<p>It's a lot more specialized, for one thing. For example, there's people whose specific job it is to take photos, examine the perimeter, collect trace evidence, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Annnnd, you can NOT solve a mystery in an hour. XD</p>
<p>LeadAmerica has an amazing summer CSI conference. :) That's what I went to, and the TL's (team leaders) told us that we get more hands-on experience than they do in Grad School. And you meet the most AMAZING people.</p>
<p>Wait do u mean forensics debate thing?</p>
<p>CSI Conference?</p>
<p>It's kinda hard to explain. Like you go and the first night there they stage a murder, and then you have to spend the next 9 days figuring it out. And then on the last day you present your theory to a panel and based on your presentation they give you or do not give you college credit. :)</p>
<p>forensics as an activity usually refers to a combination of debate, speech, and/or student congress. depending on what part of the country you live in, some or all of these are offered. i'll quick go through what each of those three activities are.</p>
<p>debate:
1) Policy/CX debate: on a team with another person. fast-talking debate about whether or not a government should implement a certain piece of legislation. lots of research.
2) Lincoln-Douglas debate: individual. typically considered "value debate", meaning you debate about conflicting claims of morality, justice, etc. on a theoretical level. can be fast or slow depending on a lot of factors. not as research heavy.
3) Public Forum/Ted Turner/Crossfire debate: team debate with one additional partner. more persuasion based. short(ish) speech times. newest type of debate so not as established in its ways.
4) Parli(amentary) debate: i don't really know anything about it but i think its really similar to student congress. i dont know that it exists outside of california or college circuits. on the college circuits, i hear they have to wear wigs though. lol.</p>
<p>Speech: ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 usually, 1 being the best, in comparison to the other people in your round.
-Public address:
1) Oratory: get up and give a speech in problem-cause-solution format. try and be witty, yet persuasive.
2) Informative/Expository: Informs the audience about something, but in a purely informative way (ie doesnt try and convince the audience of a problem with the world)
3) Extemporaneous speaking: draw a question on current events, prepare and memorize a speech in thirty minutes, give a seven minute speech with no notes or anything. usually divided into domestic and foreign/international.</p>
<p>Interp:
1) DI: perform a cutting from a piece of prose, poetry, or drama.
2) Duo: perform a cutting from any of the three above categories with a partner. can't touch partner or look at them.
3) Humorous interpretation (HI): funny type of acting stuff</p>
<p>Student congress: in a chamber with other competitors with premade bills/resolutions, and as a group, debate about whether to pass said bills/resolutions. varies in structure throughout the country.</p>
<p>i believe, but don't know for sure, that wikipedia has pretty solid articles on everything i just said, so check them out if youre interested.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nflonline.org/Main/HomePage%5B/url%5D">http://www.nflonline.org/Main/HomePage</a></p>
<p>the information is there, and I am clearly too lazy to type it all. Kudos to gricklegrick.</p>
<p>My opinion: If you think you might be interested in it, I encourage you to pursue forensics. It can be a rewarding experiance.</p>
<p>just a question about the conference,
do you solve the murder individually?
or do you work with a whole bunch of other people?</p>
<p>We were split up into teams of about 15-20 people. My group had 17 in it, and it was AMAZING. We got along really well...except for this one day, one of our "witnesses" was really mean to us and all of a sudden we started being mean to each other. XD It was kinda funny. Anyways, I still talk to them on a daily basis (and I got home on July 9th).</p>
<p>If you have anymore questions feel free to PM me, it was the best 10 days of my life hands down.</p>
<p>oh wow [: thanks.
i just sent you a message with all my questions xD
thanks so much for helping me out [:</p>
<p>Anytime! :)</p>