Competitive Speech and Debate

Competitive speech and debate builds critical thinking, speaking and research skills. Students can participate in events that consist of broader approaches to multiple topics or they can devote the season to researching a single issue.

Debate (North American English) or debating (British English) is a formal method of interactive and position representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, since it includes persuasion which appeals to the emotional responses of an audience, and rules enabling people to discuss and decide on differences, within a framework defining how they will interact.
Informal debate is a common occurrence, but the quality and depth of a debate improves with knowledge and skill of its participants as debaters. Deliberative bodies such as parliaments, legislative assemblies, and meetings of all sorts engage in debates. The outcome of a debate may be decided by audience vote, by judges, or by some combination of the two. Formal debates between candidates for elected office, such as the leaders debates and the U.S. presidential election debates, are common in democracies.

Formal debate in education

In English speaking societies, rule-based competitive debate is often encouraged in high schools and colleges. This is a contest with explicit rules. It may be presided by one or more judges. Each side seeks to win, by following the rules, and even by using some rules to break other rules, within limits. Each side is either in favor ("for, 'Affirmative' "), or opposed to ("against, 'Negative' "), a statement (proposition or Resolution) which if adopted would change something with the exception of some high school and college debate where moots may hold no outcome ie. the moot "ignorance is bliss". Some of the rules are broad and must be followed in a general way. For example, those in favor of the proposition are required to show the need for it to be adopted as it is written, and yet are allowed to define the scope of the proposition; i.e. they choose what it will mean if adopted.
 
To further illustrate the importance of rules, those opposed must destroy these arguments, sufficiently to warrant not adopting the proposition, and are not required to propose any alternative solutions.
The major goal of the study of debate as a method or art is to develop one's ability to play from either position with equal ease. To inexperienced debaters, some propositions appear easier to defend or to destroy; to experienced debaters, any proposition can be defended or destroyed after the same amount of preparation time, usually quite short. Lawyers argue forcefully on behalf of their client, even if the facts appear against them. However one large misconception about debate is that it is all about argument, it is not. The word debate itself derives from the Latin word "Debatum" which means to reach an agreement, the concept of a resolution is to educate people on an issue so that they may learn and the world may reach an agreement on the issue.

Competitive Debate is an organized activity with teams competing at the local, national, and international level. It is popular in English-speaking universities and high schools around the world, most notably in South Africa, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Many different styles of debate occur under a variety of organizations and rules.

Lincoln-Douglas debate

Lincoln-Douglas debate, a form of United States high school debate named after the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, has two participants who compete against each other over a set resolution focused on philosophical values. Most cases are centered on a core value and a value criterion, with the value representing the highest concept that can be achieved under a given resolution and the criterion being the best way to achieve or measure who better achieves the value. It is similar to policy debate in many ways. First of all, the speed of the speeches are often brisk or even fast, much like policy debate spreading (Lincoln-Douglas debaters even use the term). Additionally, Policy and Lincoln-Douglas are often done as separate events at the same tournaments with some debaters entered in policy and others in LD.

Humorous Interpretation (often shortened to "Humorous Interp", "HI", or simply Humorous) is an event in National Forensic League (and NFL-related) high school forensics competitions. It consists of a piece from any published work, edited to fit within a 10 minute span. It is judged based upon how the person portrays his or her characters rather than whether the piece is humorous. However, ideally proper portrayal of characters should achieve a comedic effect intended by the author.

Duo Interpretation, or often simply called Duo Interp, or just Duo, is an official speech event of the National Forensics League, the National Catholic Forensics League and the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association. The event involves a pair of performers acting out a short literary piece under certain restraints, including not looking at or touching your partner, and no props. Pieces used often include published short stories, plays, or poems. Participants may cut anything out of their piece, but cannot add any dialogue.