Discusses the influence of judges on tournament debaters. (CH)

The judging philosophy statements of most of the judges at the 1987 National Cross Examination Debate Association Tournament are contained in this booklet. A short form on each judge details how long they have been judging and how many rounds of debate on the topic of the tournament they had previously judged. A longer form asks for information…

Neither of the two major forensics associations uses an ideal point system for the team sweepstakes award at debate tournaments. The National Forensics Association (NFA) awards points for preliminary round ballots and uses a 3-tiered system of team awards based on entry size. They restrict preliminary round sweepstakes points by capping the total…

In 1964 the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark decision, in the case of the New York Times v. Sullivan, that was hailed as a tremendous victory for the news media. This decision changed the law of libel by introducing a fourth requirement of "actual malice" in addition to three previously accepted requirements--publication,…

This paper explores a philosophical framework for using the ballots which a contestant receives as part of one's participation in a forensic tournament. The central thesis of this theoretical article suggests that coaches need to prepare their students for the criticism they will encounter on judge ballots. The argument is made for establishing…

Staggered by some recent libel verdicts, many journalists are neglecting lessons about press freedom learned at great cost during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Journalists then learned that state power over the press, residing in the hands of either censors or judges, leads to a decrease in press freedom. In 1986, though, many media…

This paper argues that there is a need to take a negative position on "Resolved: that 'should' should appear in Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) debate resolutions." The paper also asserts that it needs to be clear that value debate is not a policy debate. The first contention offered to defend this position is that value…

Two major problem areas exist in current high school forensics. The first is the decline in the number of debate participants in some parts of the country. Contributing to this decline are demands on extracurricular time and money, a lack of strong leadership as coaches leave academia, barriers to participation such as increased difficulty in…

The recent growth in popularity among college students of dramatic interpretation in forensic competition justifies an examination of textual considerations and resultant criteria important to the evaluation of dramatic literature. The first considerations of the student contemplating the dramatic interpretation event are the selection of material…

Based on an investigation of 207 of United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's opinions concerning the First Amendment, this paper argues for the existence of a rhetorical genre grounded in the jurisprudence known as "legal realism." The paper begins with an overview of the philosophy of legal realism that leads to a…

Describes a 12-hour workshop for potential 4-H judges in the home economics area. The workshop covered judging philosophy, judging skills, and clothing subject matter. Pretests and posttests were administered to determine knowledge gains and attitude shifts. (CH)

Describes and analyzes the agreement rate of judges at the 1984 National Individual Events Tournament. Reveals a low agreement rate (65.22%) among judges; discusses ramifications for forensic education. (PD)

Discusses two points in response to the objections raised in the previous essay: (1) higher standards for argument are not justified and could create problems and (2) theoretical issues can and should be debated in individual debate rounds. (PD)

Analyzed 160 contested child custody cases to explore the role of children and determine the extent to which judges use discretionary powers. Results suggested children rarely provide any direct input into divorce/custody proceedings, questioning whether judges fulfill their duty to determine the child's best interests in such cases. (JAC)

An analysis was made of the cognitive processes that support the judgments made in standard setting activities. These processes were conceived as having two components: forming the domain needed to pass the test and identifying the criterion level of performance to pass the test. In fact, these processes are interactive, and were separated for the…