What are Speech & Debates?

Speech and debate teams help students hone valuable public speaking skills.

Speech and debate are the two events included in collegiate forensics. Each of the disciplines have subcategories of events. Teams attend tournaments and compete in speech and debate activities. Coaching is provided, but students write and present their own original material.

Parliamentary Debate

Parliamentary debate consists of two teams with two members each. A topic or "resolution" is given to both teams, and each is assigned a position (affirmative or negative). Six timed speeches are given and a judge or judges declare the winning team.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Lincoln-Douglas is a one-on-one competition. At the beginning of the semester, teams are given a topic that is discussed throughout the term. Lincoln-Douglas uses evidence, which is presented during the debates.

Limited Preparation Speech

In impromptu and extemporaneous speaking, participants are given a certain amount of minutes to prepare and deliver their speeches. Impromptu deals with quotations or artifacts, and extemporaneous involves discussion of policies and current events.

Prepared Speeches

Informative, persuasive, and after-dinner speaking and rhetorical criticism are prepared speeches of eight to 10 minutes that students write, memorize, and then present throughout the semester.

Interpretive Speech

Prose, poetry, duo, program oral, and dramatic interpretation speeches are also memorized early in the semester and presented throughout the term. These events draw on interpretation of material written by others.

References

• Creighton University Speech and Debate
• Truman State University: Forensics

Resources

• Bradley University: Speech