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University of Texas at Austin
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Speech & Debate
Contact Info

Speech & Debate Director:
Jana Riggins

Email:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Department Phone:
512-471-5883

Department Fax:
512-232-1499

State Champions

UIL Prose and Poetry Handbook

Oral Interpretation is an art of re-creation and every piece of literature presents its own challenge. While there is no absolute “how-to-do-it” formula, the principles of literary analysis and presentation included in this book will prove useful. As you will discover when you review different judges’ evaluations of a performance, each critic brings his or her own perspective about performance. This handbook will help achieve a balance between literary analysis and interpretative technique, which is essential to the art of oral interpretation. The information provided within its covers will equip you to make decisions about your approach to your own performance.

This handbook provides the contest rules for UIL Prose and Poetry, information about finding and selecting literature, creating introductions, transitioning, cutting literature for a performance and preparing the manuscript. Critical to competing, the book provides an in-depth discussion of the current UIL literary categories that all coaches and students must read and answers documentation questions.

Also included are sample ballots, an explanation of the UIL procedures for speech ranking, rehearsal techniques, weaving literature, hints for new coaches, and much more.

If you are a contest director, you will find instructions on how to properly conduct the contest.

We are excited to provide this resource for you and your students. We hope it can play a part in enriching your students’ experiences with Oral Interpretation this season.

Obtain your complimentary digital copy from this link: http://www.uiltexas.org/academics/resources/contest-handbooks-manuals