<p>How exactly does it work? What kinds of topics are there, and do you prepare and stuff?</p>
<p>Could anyone who has experience tell me what they like about it, and how it works? Thanks.</p>
<p>The activity primarily depends on how your school participates in Speech and Debate. There's pretty much 3 main organizations: the NFL (National Forensic League), NCFL (National Catholic Forensic League), and the national circuit leading up to the TOC (Tournament of Champions) - I'm not sure if there's an organization for that...my state's rules prohibit national circuit debate :(</p>
<p>Those organizations pretty much are affliated with every forensics competition/tournament there is. However, most events/debate styles are the same throughout the country, regardless of organization.</p>
<p>The three main types of debate are:
Policy debate (2v2)
Lincoln-Douglas debate (1v1)
Public forum debate (2v2)
and sometimes Student Congress is considered debate... (FFA!)</p>
<p>Anyway policy has a year round resolution - this year's involves public health policies to Africa - and you have to construct policies that meet the resolution, you then debate the merits of the "case". Lots of evidence (like easily 20k sheets of paper or more). Lots of research (that you have to keep up to date). Your speeches in round include a lot of reading of the evidence. Know that the debate may not end up all about the effectiveness of malaria nets, it could include politics, the economy, war, nuclear war, philosophical critiques etc.</p>
<p>LD is more ethics/morals, where bimonthly resolutions like "Should the death penalty be used..." come up. You only have to carry around a few pieces of evidence, and its date doesnt really matter. Philosophers are used a lot. A lot more analysis/persuasion.</p>
<p>PUF is more for the "common individual" to understand. Bimonthly topics can be something about Walmart, or NBA uniforms. The structure is a lot easier to follow, but many policy/LDers tend to view PUF as a lower level debate.</p>
<p>Student Congress is basically a room of kids who take turns making speeches/passing bills etc. and you win by being a good speaker/being elected by the others. </p>
<p>There are also a plethora of speech events, my personal choice being Extemporaneous speaking, where you get 30 min to prep a 7 min speech on US or foreign topics (ex. What should the UN do about North Korea). If you're more into acting you can perform dramatic or humorous pieces, read prose or poetry, do some radio broadcasting or write a speech and memorize it for oratory etc.</p>
<p>This is an incredibly brief overview - Wikipedia has some good pages on each type of debate/event, you can go to the NFL website (or NCFL etc), and if you're thinking about policy....cross-x.com is a good policy debate forum.</p>
<p>Debate is great for college/learning/public speaking and its really fun.</p>
<p>Wow Echelon, great response. This should be a sticky, as questions about Speech and Debate seem pretty commonplace.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great resonse. I checked out cross-x.com, and I don't understand half the stuff they're talking about. Is there somewhere I can get the basics, something like your description, or where can I learn more about it?</p>
<p>Does anyone have any good ideas of places to find pieces for OI (prose and poetry)? Also, can anyone out there give me an idea of what kinds of topics are good for OO (original oratory)? I'm thinking of trying it this year, but I don't really know what topics are acceptable/competitive. My school competes in the NCFL if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Wow, Policy sounds incredibly boring.</p>
<p>Up here in Canadia we do Parliamentary Style, and British Parliamentary, Cross Ex, and Worlds Style come up occasionally.</p>
<p>For us, it's 2v2 or 3v3 and the resolution is usually the idea of implementing legislation, but the debate ends up being won on a philosophical basis. I like it.</p>