This paper investigates the use of stand-up comedy routines to demonstrate principles of public speaking to college students in communication classes. The paper examines particular elements of the public speaking process, which include the structural elements of speeches: (1) introductions; (2) the body of the speech, including organization,…

Intrinsic justification in academic debate focuses on the essential characteristics of the terms in a topic. The technique, advocated by Ken Bahm, works with very few Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) topics. It gives rise to counterwarrants, which create more confusion than clarity, while its counterplans destroy affirmative grounds. In…

Advocates return of collegiate debating to public forum format. (CH)

A discussion of the problems inherent in academic debate cases based upon attitudinal rather than structural flaws. (CH)

A study of the influence audience reactions have on the individual members of the audience in judging speaker expertise. (CH)

The first negative is often an underutilized speech. The question is what can be done to increase the importance of the first negative speech? The preparation of a superior first negative speech begins prior to the round by developing briefs, coordinating arguments with the second negative, and having a pre-round discussion to reduce the…

The steps which should be followed in planning, preparing, and giving a presentation are: (1) start planning immediately; (2) establish realistic objectives emphasizing desired results; (3) analyze the audience and the context of the presentation; (4) prepare a preliminary plan to help in selecting and organizing material including topic,…

Rufus Choate, a Massachusetts lawyer and orator, has been described as a "unique and romantic phenomenon" in America's history. Born in 1799 in Essex, Massachusetts, Choate graduated from Dartmouth College and attended Harvard Law School. Choate's goal was to be the top in his profession. Daniel Webster was Choate's hero. Choate became…

As a significant part of America's political heritage, the national political convention keynote address has become an institution of the American political process. Politicians and journalists borrowed the term "keynote" from the vocabulary of music to refer to the setting of campaign themes. Convention speakers learned that it was…

An alternative conception to the idea that the audience determines the nature of a speech. (CH)

How to "hook" faculty and students when giving library lectures. (LS)

When tournament judges view a particular speaking event they are inevitably going to have different perceptions of that event. For example, typical descriptions for after dinner speaking events deal with time limits, originality, wit and creativity, and tasteful humor. Definitions of these terms vary, but efforts have been made to establish some…

Everything taught as rhetoric today can be traced to Aristotle, but his rhetoric needs to be updated. The five elements of his rhetoric--invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery--were designed for public orators, but rhetoric has since come to mean the written rather than the spoken word. Peter Ramus redefined rhetoric in the sixteenth…

This paper examines changes that have occurred concerning the nature of inherency, in order to establish a better framework with which to evaluate the nature of the concept. Four changes are examined: the trend toward simular positions taken by affirmative and negative teams; the development of new types of inherency positions; growing differences…

The use of tournament forensics in teaching vital skills to the disadvantaged is discussed. Four case histories illustrate the success of such an approach to providing students with basic communication skills. Some of the difficulties peculiar to working with the underskilled in an academic environment are described. (DB)