OSAT Speech/Drama/Debate (116) cheat sheet

Speech/Drama/Debate

• Aristotle's three artistic proofs: ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), logos (logic); all persuasive appeals reduce to these categories.

• Rhetorical triangle: speaker, audience, and occasion/context interact; a change in any element alters appropriate style and evidence.

• Delivery basics: eye contact, varied pitch and rate, purposeful gesture, and controlled volume; vocal variety is called inflection, and monotone delivery is a common scoring deduction.

• Vocal anatomy for projection: diaphragmatic breathing supports sustained sound; resonance occurs in pharynx, oral cavity, and nasal cavity, not in the larynx alone.

• Speech organization: introduction (attention device, thesis, preview), body with 2-4 main points using transitions, conclusion (summary, clincher).

• Monroe's Motivated Sequence: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action; used for persuasive speeches advocating a policy.

• Debate formats in Texas/OSAT context: LD (values and criteria), Policy/cross-examination (plan and stock issues), Public Forum (current-events resolution), and Extemporaneous speaking with limited prep.

• Stock issues in policy debate: significance, inherency, harms, solvency, and topicality; an affirmative case must satisfy these to be prima facie.

• Drama fundamentals: plot, character, theme, dialogue, spectacle, and music (Aristotle's six elements); conflict is the engine of dramatic action.