You must turn in an outline for every speech. It will be graded and handed back a week later.
The penalty for going outside the time limit is one grade level (e.g. fromB+ to B) for every 30 second block of time. So, if you give an A speech, but it is 6:49; it becomes a B+.
The first purpose of the I think speech is to demonstrate your comprehension
of the basic tools of the public address--General and specific purposes,
central ideas and claims. To that end, you will give an address that will focus
on your favorite subject--YOU! You will then support your claim however
you want to for 2-3 minutes.
Tell us your opinion about the state of political activism in the 18-30 year
old demographic. Don't just tell the story. Make an argument around it.
The second purpose is to give you an evaluation dry run. The assignment will
not count against your final average, but I will give you a grade and critique
your speech. Your grade will be based on:
For more information on how to develop positions, visit the "I Think" Tutorial
The purpose of this speech is to hone your ability to make complex information both simple and useful for an audience. The assignment is to read one of the standard college fiction texts (okay it with me) then digest its content into a 5 minute speech suitable for this audience. Your goal is to make the POINT or THEME of the material available to us--not just summarize the plot.
Your main ideas are statements in support of that interpretation, and your evidence is story points and/or expert testimony.
The criteria for grading are the same as Speech Two (except that no visual aids or analogies are required). The strong emphasis, however, will be on your efficient use of time.
In the demonstration speech, you will pick a subject area unfamiliar to you. You will then research it, gain a general understanding of it, and pass that understanding on to us.
You will be graded on:
Speech Four is essentially Speech One again--except that you are being held
to a higher standard, must be a little more subtle about your presentation, and
will be graded on the quality of your strategy and support.
You will take and defend a position on a controversial issue related to the
overall topic. You will employ at least one piece of testimony, one example and
one statistic. They must all be as recent as this calendar year, and you must
be able to produce the source if I ask.
The speech should last between 4-6 minutes.
You have two options. You can give an address motivating us to become politically active or take a position to which most of your audience would be hostile. The speech should last between 4-6 minutes.