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Events That Address Hot Topics
Public Address Events
- Persuasive Speaking : Convince, stimulate, or actuate the audience concerning some significant issue.
- Informative Speaking : Describe, clarify, define or explain an object, idea, concept or process.
Limited Preparation Events
- Exemporaneous Speaking : The contestant is given a choice of three topics concerned with national, international, or economic current events occurring within the previous 90 days.
- Parliamentary Debate : Teams of two are given a topic of a philosophical, value, or policy nature 15 minutes before the debate is to happen.
For more infomation on these events check the team website or contact the team advisors.
Hot Topics
Hot topics can be either topics that are currently of interest (see the Current Events page) or topics of perennial interest. Many topics that are considered "hot" are overdone for speech purposes; such as abortion, child abuse, capital punishment. You should probably steer away from choosing overdone topics, but it is possible they could be assigned in extemporaneous speaking.
Locating Resources
In addition to the resources listed on the General Research page, you may want to consult these resources for topics and information.
- Almanac of Policy Issues
- America's News Magazines
- Offers a selection of America's popular news magazines such as Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report. On the left side, click on Hot Topics.
- Best Information on the Net
- The CQ Researcher
- The most recent "hot' topics are on page one. Also take a look at Issue Tracker in the blue bar on the left.
- CQ Weekly
- Contains weekly reports on the activities of the U.S. Congress. Lots of policy issues are discussed here.
- Health08.org
- A project of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Health issues only.
- Issues and Controversies on File
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- National Issues Forum
- The Newsbank Special Reports
- Collection of in-depth reports on a variety of current events and hot topics.
- Opposing Viewpoints
- Project Vote Smart Issue Information
- Public Agenda Online
- Speakout.com
Feel free to contact the Reference Desk or the Communications Librarian for help in locating resources.
This guide was last updated July 10, 2007.
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