The Intercollegiate Debate & Forensics course is designed to provide students with competence and confidence in a variety of speech situations beyond the classroom setting. Students will learn critical thinking, media literacy, and public speaking skills through intercollegiate competition in interpretation, limited preparation, platform speaking, and debate events. Students enrolled in this course will be expected to: (1) Attend debate and forensics tournaments throughout the semester (2) Present/practice events in class for intercollegiate competition which will include creating weekly topic briefs, reading various types of literature to produce original cuttings and critical positions for competition, provide written and oral feedback to fellow classmates, and produce speeches that utilize and perfect various oral presentation formats. (3) Actively participating in service opportunities within the college and local community related to public discourse such as Toastmasters, Portland Urban Debate League, and the Washington Debate Coalition. Credits in this course are classified as Activity credits, which are excluded from the enrollment limit of 18 Academic credits per semester; however, other limits on Activity credits may apply. Graded credit/no credit. May be repeated for a maximum of eight credits.