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| Debate Speeches | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 22 2009, 04:56 PM (1,111 Views) | |
| Telosan | Nov 22 2009, 04:56 PM Post #1 |
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The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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Others have request help on schoolwork, so I figured I might as well. My teacher has allowed us to each pick a controverial topic such as abortion or healthcare. After we've picked our topic, we have to create a speech arguing in favor of either side and present it to the class. We'll have the auditorium for the day and will present these speeches to all the English classes, totalling about 1200 students. Of course I really don't want to make a fool of myself. Unfortunately, I've only ever written short stories or persuasive essays. I'm not sure how to make a speech that great and the teacher has not informed us of any literary techniques, though I assume that will come after we've sufficiently embarrassed ourselves in front of our peers. I picked the topic of nuclear weapons, whether we should keep or abolish them. Guess which side I'm arguing for. Here's the "speech". Spoiler: click to toggle This is relatively short because there is a time limit. I will have 3 to 5 minutes to read this. I need the speech to be amazing because my terrible presentation skills are going to cost me a good amount of points. |
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| Quaon | Nov 22 2009, 05:42 PM Post #2 |
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A Prince Amoung Men-Shoot First and Ask Questions Later
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| Tristan da Cunha | Nov 22 2009, 05:54 PM Post #3 |
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Science and Industry
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I agree with Q that the content of the last paragraph is flawed, but here are some stylistic suggestions anyways. I would parse down the statistics. Heavy use of statistics will fly over people's heads because they've been sitting and squirming in an uncomfortable auditorium seat for so long. If the audience wants the exact statistics, you can give them a copy of the white paper version of your thesis after the presentation. A good presentation should have a brisk, conversational tone and overuse of statistics gets in the way of that. I would also revise the tone of the essay and make it more conversational and urgent (and attention grabbing). Not that you're trying to hustle used cars, but you want to try to make your presentation engaging. For example, in your opening paragraph, you could simply say for your first sentence, "My talk today is about nuclear weapons. Many people, of all ages, are very passionate about global nuclear disarmament, but in reality disarmament is impractical/illogical/etc....." That would avoid the somewhat convoluted buildup involving Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the art of war and all that. Edited by Tristan da Cunha, Nov 22 2009, 06:09 PM.
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| Al Araam | Nov 22 2009, 06:02 PM Post #4 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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I'd agree that your last argument should be dropped entirely. Nuclear war has the potential to cause destruction on a scale that far outstrips that of any conceivable conventional war. That's certainly not a point in your favor and you should avoid bringing it up because it weakens your case. It's probably worth mentioning that global nuclear disarmament is a pipe dream. For anybody but the most starry-eyed of idealists, it should be clear that nuclear weapons are here to stay. There are a great many countries that would never dream of giving up their nuclear weapons under any circumstances. Look at India and Pakistan. Disarmament would be essentially impossible because if either India or Pakistan was able to conceal a single nuclear device and their enemy decommissioned all of theirs, the country which 'cheated' would undoubtedly have the upper hand if it ever came to blows. Both countries are always convinced that war is just around the corner, so neither has any will to disarm. Same idea with Israel. If they disarm, they leave themselves open to chemical and biological attacks by the surrounding states, which they are convinced, with good reason, hate them and would like to see their nation cease to exist. Would the world be better if nuclear weapons were never invented? Probably. But it's undoubtedly a Pandora's box situation. Try how you might, there's no way you can send the evil that was released upon the world back where it came from. |
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| Eleytheria-Duo | Nov 22 2009, 07:39 PM Post #5 |
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Resident Bystander
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Q, I have no qualms with your statements except this- which is very ambiguous, and frankly, arrogantly fallacious and seemingly fear mongering. Your average Nuke in the arsenal of major Nuclear powers is ~200 Kilotons, give or take 150 depending on the mated warhead and if its SLBM, ICBM etc. These are yields we've been able to produce since the early 1950's. The largest weapon ever detonated in history was the Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba (At ~50 Megatons) and we can theoretically produce weapons today that are limited in yield only by the physical constraints of assembly and a "flavorful" detonation. During the peak of testing in the early 60's (62 I believe, a year before the LTBT,) there were hundreds of tests in a single year, a vast majority of which took place within a single month (Which exceeded the so-called 50 required to create nuclear winter theory) and a majority of which were MUCH higher in yield than the United States' or Russian Federations typical warhead stockpiled in their Strategic Nuclear arsenal. If we were going to have a Nuclear winter, we should have had it decades ago. Or- maybe we're experiencing global warming because we stopped atmospheric nuclear tests! :lol: |
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| Deleted User | Nov 22 2009, 09:07 PM Post #6 |
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Deleted User
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Ah, this brings back great memories with toussaint, writing our speeches and such on the day of the tournament. |
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| Telosan | Nov 22 2009, 09:15 PM Post #7 |
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The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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Thanks for the corrections, I made the changes on the paper, except for removing the last argument. It's the strongest one I have and is referencing the Iraq War, which people in my class will know a bit about and not feel like it's a history lesson. The fact that some of their parents are serving in Iraq should also help in gathering support. Maybe next time I get an assignment with a month to complete it, I should do it earlier than the afternoon before it's due. Eh, I've done worse. Like the time I wrote an essay in the class before I had to hand it in. Got an A on that one, so this shouldn't be so bad. I hope. |
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| Quaon | Nov 22 2009, 09:51 PM Post #8 |
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A Prince Amoung Men-Shoot First and Ask Questions Later
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From wikipedia. I don't know enough about the science to competently comment on your last line of argumentation, but would conjecture that the fact that said nuclear tests were conducted in desert and thus did not cause as much destruction as an urban nuclear strike would, sending up fewer dust particles and whatnot. No, actually, it's a terrible argument for reasons already cited. |
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| Tristan da Cunha | Nov 22 2009, 10:28 PM Post #9 |
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Science and Industry
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A quick google/wikipedia search might not be as trustworthy as a journal article published in PNAS, but according to google/wikipedia, the powerful 1883 eruption of the volcano Krakatoa was the equivalent of 13,000 Hiroshimas and threw about 200 million tons of dust 50 miles up into the atmosphere, resulting in erratic weather patterns and slightly cooler temperatures globally for the next 5 years. The mechanism of nuclear winter proposed by PNAS ("soot would absorb enough solar radiation to heat surrounding gases … break down the stratospheric ozone layer protecting Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation") does not seem to have occurred in the wake of the Krakatoa eruption. However radiation fallout might be a regional or continental threat and cause increased rates of leukemias and solid tumors if there was a regional nuclear exchange. Edited by Tristan da Cunha, Nov 22 2009, 10:29 PM.
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| New Harumf | Nov 22 2009, 10:28 PM Post #10 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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I would present the argument that the only way to prevent the nuclear distruction of the planet is to remove the human race (one of my students presented exactly that argument, and I loved it. If I can find it in .doc format I'll attach). The human race will destroy everything if given the chance, so the only hope is to remove us from the planet (consider Swift's "A Modest Proposal"). I love satire when presenting a speach without debate! |
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| Telosan | Feb 24 2010, 09:47 PM Post #11 |
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The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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I've got another assignment, but before I get to that, I figured you might want the results of the first one. The speech went well, IMO. I was lucky and they fixed the microphone just before my turn! :D The debate ended, decidedly, in my favor. Since the stupid concept of "peer review" took up a large portion of the grade, I was unable to argue as effectively as I would have liked. I needed to hold back some of the harsher points so people would agree with my position (what a politician I am :rolleyes: ). The final grade was a 94. ~~~~~ Okay, next assignment. This thesis essay spans two classes, my history and english classes. The subject must be history related as chosen from a list of topics. The history grade will be on the content and the english grade on the structure and grammar, etc. My chosen topic is the Sons of Liberty. My thesis statement, which has yet to be approved (and is still changeable), is: Can the Sons of Liberty be considered a terroristic organization by definition? I'll be arguing that they are. The stupidest part of this assignment is that I am required to have 80 index cards filled with information, placed in order, and then type the essay. The index cards are 50% of the grade. I'd rather do it my own way and just hand in a finished essay on the due date, but whatever. I just have to do more research on stuff I probably already know. Opinions? Helpful links? Etc, etc? |
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| Union | Feb 24 2010, 09:59 PM Post #12 |
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Pyrenees Republic
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Define terrorism for yourself, rather than using a traditional definition. Your definition will be key. As long as your definition is persuasive, and not too out there, it can conceivably be anything you want it to be. This should be the body of your work, as you can tailor your definition to fit exactly what the Sons of Liberty have done, making your case relatively easy. This should also be the best-argued portion of the work, as whether or not the Sons of Liberty can be defined as terroristic depends entirely on how it is defined. Research experts on terrorism, and their definitions. Critique them, build upon them, etc. Demonstrate why your definition is the best one. Edited by Union, Feb 24 2010, 10:00 PM.
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| Telosan | Feb 24 2010, 10:24 PM Post #13 |
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The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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Not a bad idea. My definition, the dictionary's, 2-3 experts' definition, and a random student's definition? (I get bonus points for having a tie in to school in some form.) |
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| Sedulius | Feb 24 2010, 10:50 PM Post #14 |
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Field Marshal
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Christ, I guess it is debate, but the grading is harsher than a college speech class. Telo, you keep posting things reminding me of how ridiculous high school was. I suppose I should thank you. It makes me feel better about my current situation. Doesn't make me feel any better about twenty page political science research papers, but other than that college has been easier for me. |
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| Telosan | Feb 24 2010, 11:04 PM Post #15 |
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The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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Of course high school is harsher. They do all this to "prepare you for college", so that when you get to college you can discover that nothing is what they said it would be like. Like in elementary/middle school when I was forced to write in script because every teacher said that no high school teacher will read an assignment written in print. So I learned script, to the point that it's so ingrained that I have to actually think about what I'm doing if I want to write in print, and can't even remember some letters in print, just to discover that EVERYONE in high school doesn't use script. Three of my teachers have repeatedly asked me to stop writing in script. I keep forgetting, and have lost 2 or 3 points on tests and such for continuing to write in script. It's extremely irritating. |
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| Rhadamanthus | Feb 24 2010, 11:11 PM Post #16 |
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Legitimist
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Eh, just sounds like your teachers are lazy. They should be able to read script without any trouble. And in my experience, college was much harder than high school. I had actually had to put effort into college. I don't remember junior high or elementary school very much, but from high school, to college, through law school, difficulty has continually increased. I guess college could be easy if you take only easy classes though. Edited by Rhadamanthus, Feb 24 2010, 11:12 PM.
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| Aelius | Feb 24 2010, 11:59 PM Post #17 |
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Norman Warlord
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IMO, college is easier in some ways and harder in some ways. Bigger workload, but not stuck in class all day. There's also the feeling that you're at college because you chose to do so rather than the government ordering you there. At college you can (mostly) avoid the school spirit shit rather than being forced to pep rallies that take time which could be used for better purposes. In college, you get more control over your time, but you'll tend to have a larger workload. I end up typing most of my assignments in college. Then again, when you've got six short stories due in a semester (2500-4000 words), two six-page research essays on scientific research during the Cold War, and a ten-page full research paper on the Crusades only using primary sources, you start to get used to typing. :dry: |
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| New Harumf | Feb 25 2010, 10:44 AM Post #18 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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I'm not sure if I sent you this or not, but I have a very nice template for the MLA style sheet, and unless your instructors are expecting some other style, it is the most widely used. 50 research cards!! How long is this paper to be?? Of course, he is forcing you to use research cards because that's how you'll do it in college (I do not make my students do research cards). I agree that you work more on defining terrorism to fit the SOL, rather than forcing the SOL to fit some arbatrary definition. |
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| Telosan | Feb 25 2010, 12:59 PM Post #19 |
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The Foremost Intellectual Badass
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The essay needs to be at least 4 pages, and at that point it has to be the best written work in the school's history to coax a A out of it. They want every line of the essay on an index card with a source for the information. Every line, regardless of whether there's any historical content in the sentence. Edited by Telosan, Feb 25 2010, 12:59 PM.
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| New Harumf | Feb 25 2010, 02:49 PM Post #20 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. Does this instructor have ANY knowledge about how to do research? Anyway, if that's what they want, that's what they want, so . . . . . make it perfect. Get that "A". P.S. I did a 100+ page paper in Graduate School about the Epic Theatre of Bertolt Brecht in the U.S. and didn't have 50 note cards. This is four pages?? Hell, I could put together four pages with two quotes on a narrow subject! No wonder the kids in my class come out of high school hating writing, if this is what high school teachers do! Edited by New Harumf, Feb 25 2010, 02:50 PM.
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| Porcu | Feb 25 2010, 03:57 PM Post #21 |
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"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
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I can vouch for Telo, remembering somewhat my own experiences with writing in high school. NH is right though Telo. If that is the shit you need to put up with to get a good grade, just suck it up and do it. I have not taken too many classes with writing as a focus. The one class I did take to fulfill a requirement was on "The American Experience", basically short stories and poems by gay and lesbian, black, Hispanic, Jewish, feminist and other minority American authors. We wrote three 'major' essays, 5-6 pages, and the teacher only required us to submit a rough draft prior to the final. Edited by Porcu, Feb 25 2010, 03:57 PM.
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| Al Araam | Feb 26 2010, 03:11 AM Post #22 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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Yeah, I'm in multiple 5000 level courses this semester and there's no way in hell I need to complete that much research to write any of the papers that will be required of me. I don't think your teacher has any idea what college-level writing entails. |
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| Tristan da Cunha | Feb 26 2010, 03:14 PM Post #23 |
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Science and Industry
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5000 level courses? Back in the day (2004) the highest courses available were 800. The highest level was probably 60 back in Harumf's day. When Telo gets to college it'll probably get to 100,000. Talk about level inflation :lol: As for this unfortunate 80 index card situation, I don't think we can expect any different from Telo's Twilight Zone high school where nobody can read an analog clock and biology tests go from 100 to 36 and back again! :lol: |
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| New Harumf | Feb 26 2010, 04:43 PM Post #24 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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Actually 400 level courses were grad level, 500 level courses were PhD, back in my day! But then, we didn't have 75 courses in African American Literature, or a degree program in witchcraft, like you blokes do today. |
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| Sedulius | Feb 26 2010, 05:51 PM Post #25 |
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Field Marshal
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For Cameron, 1000 level courses are freshman, 2000 are sophomore, 3000 are junior, 4000 are senior, 5000 are graduate. There are also 0000 courses which are for people who didn't score high enough on areas of the ACT and don't count for any credit (though they still cost as much as any credits). 1113 would mean a normal basic level course. The first number stands for the level, the fourth number stands for the amount of credits. The middle two can denote various things. For example: ENGL 1113 is English Composition I. ENGL 1123 is Honors Composition I. ENGL 1213 is English Composition II. ENGL 1223 is Honors Composition II. Edited by Sedulius, Feb 26 2010, 05:52 PM.
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