What is Forensics?

Policy Debate Policy debate is a form of debate competition in which teams advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. Each team has two competitors and must be prepared to argue on either side of the given resolution. Affirmative teams generally present a plan as a proposal for implementation of the resolution, while Negative teams advocate against it. Policy debate has evolved past strict policy resolutions and offers a space for students to express themselves and explore critical theories that draw attention to problems with the larger structure of the world. There are very few rules that bind arguments in policy debate, allowing students to create their own arguments and stand on the side of issues that they believe is right.

Individual Events contain numerous speech giving performances that can range from informing the audience on topics they may not have known before to interpreting and bringing to life a story as their own. Listed below are the events in which competitors on the CSUF speech team participate in:

• Informative

  Informative is a speech meant to inform the audience. The speech may range from the newest, high tech inventions from around the world to cure cancer to lighthearted topics. The speaker's job is to make a complex topic easier to understand.

• Persuasion

  The focus of the event is to change, reinforce, or instill the attitudes, beliefs, and values of the audience. speakers advocate a specific policy proposal to address a need, offering their recommendation in a problem-cause-solution or cause-effect-solution format.

• Extemporaneous

  Extemporaneous speaking is a speech given with little preparation and without access to the internet for citation. The main purpose of the speech to make an argument answering the question given at the beginning of the round and convince the audience that this interpretation is the most correct

• Impromptu

  In impromptu speaking, competitors are given a topic (usually a word or phrase which may be a person, thing, a well-known saying, a less well-known quotation, a current event, or an object) and compose a speech based on the prompt.

• Critical analysis

  The speech usually consists of an introduction, the presentation of a rhetorical artifact, a communication theory or model, the application of the communication theory to the artifact, the implications of that analysis, and a conclusion.

• Ads

  After-dinner speaking or speech to entertain is a public-address event which makes greater sense of a topic with humor. Generally, it is a humorous speech with a serious undertone or point.

• Prose

  Prose interpretation is the interpretation of a single or multiple works of. competitors interpret the literature with facial expression and eye contact,

• Poetry

  Poetry interpretation is the interpretation of a single or multiple works of poetry centered around a single literary theme. The poetry used can have traditional poetic meter though it is not required. The separate pieces are cut together into a single program that lasts a maximum of 10 minutes, on the college level, with an introduction

• Drama interpretation

  In Dramatic Interpretation, a competitor interprets a selection from a dramatic theatrical script. A competitor plays several parts, which are differentiated with a variety of positions and voices. Each character should be clearly distinguishable, and a competitor can also play a single character.

• Program Oral Interpretation

  POI s an event all about intertextuality -- what constitutes a text to be almost anything when recorded somehow. Unlike other categories in the Speech and Debate medium, this means competitors can use anything that is considered text throughout their program to construct a cohesive story.