Public Speaking

Historical Speech Analysis Paper

Analyze the text of a historical speech of your choice from the attached list and write a paper describing how the speech ‘solved the communication problem.”

First, please describe the problem that the speaker faces in accomplishing his or her goal(s) with the audience(s) that the speech will reach.

This requires that you conduct research to identify and provide evidence (cite your sources) of the:

(1) speaker’s goals;

(2) the audience(s), and the audience’s attributes that will affect how audience members will respond to the speaker’s call for action and/or argument to adopt a point of view. These attributes can include audience:

(a) attitudes and beliefs,

(b) interests and wants,

(c) emotions, and

(d) values.

These attributes will provide both opportunities for and challenges to the speaker achieving his or her goals. So it is important to note that describing the problem entails identifying the audience attributes (attitudes, values, beliefs, interests, wants, and emotions) that the speaker can tap into to get the audience to adopt the speaker’s positions as well as those attributes that will tend to work against the audience adopting the speaker’s advocacy.

Second, describe how the speaker solved this described “communication problem.” Identify how the speaker took advantage of the opportunities presented by the audience attributes that inclined them to adopt the speaker’s goals and to mitigate or address the attributes that make the audience less likely to adopt the speaker’s advocacy position.

What choices did the speaker make to address the audience attributes? Consider the following elements of a speech:

1. arguments;
2. key messages;
3. types of proof, including use of data/science and use of narrative/storytelling;
4. sources cited:
5. structure;
6. language,
7. style of delivery;
8. and other elements we discuss in class.

Provide evidence within the speech itself to cite examples of the speaker’s strategic choices (those helping the speaker to achieve his/her goals) that address audience attributes.

Remember to please provide evidence about the speaker’s goals and the audience attributes and cite your sources.

• Type up your analysis in 3-5 pages, double-spaced.
• At the top of your first page list your name, the name of the speaker and the title of the speech. A cover page is not necessary.
• You must use at least 3 sources for this assignment. More is fine, less if not. The speech itself – in any format, like print and video – is one source. You need at least two others, like a newspaper or scholarly article, book or other source that addresses the speech in some way. You must - at a minimum - provide sources to back up your identification of the speaker’s goals and the audience attributes
• Cite your sources using MLA style, both within the paper and at the end on a Works Cited page. (See the MCC library home page for an MLA guide).

This assignment is due April 1, 2023. No handwritten assignments will be accepted. Late paper submissions will lose one letter grade if they are turned in within seven days of the due date. Papers submitted later than one week after the due date will lose two letter grades.

Below is the list of speeches from which you may choose for this assignment.

1. Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” http://www.kyphilom.com/www/truth.html  and http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5740/ Alfre Woodard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vr_vKsk_h8

2. Nelson Mandela “I am the First Accused” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/mandela.htm

3. Martin Luther King Jr.  “I have been to the Mountaintop” http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm

4. John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address  http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm

5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Pearl Harbor: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm

6. Barack Obama “A More Perfect Union” http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88478467 Speech to the Democratic National Committee 2004 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWynt87PaJ0&feature=related and transcript http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/demconv04/obama072704sp.html

7. Steve Jobs Commencement Address  http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

8. Ronald Reagan “Address to Nation on the Challenger” http://speech-school.com/tag/ronald-reagan/page/3/

9. Hillary Rodham Clinton “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintonbeijingspeech.htm

10. Michelle  Obama 2016 Democratic National Convention Address http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2016/michelleobamadnc2016.htm

11. Pres. Barack Obama Farewell Address, Jan. 10, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/politics/obama-farewell-address-speech.html?_r=0

• American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank 
• Comprehensive collection of famous speeches, including audio and video where available.
• Famous Speeches in History

  Great video and audio clips of famous speeches available via the History Channel website.

• Great Speeches

  Hundreds of speeches available through Learn Out Loud website.

• Presidential Speeches

• Speeches from Presidents George Washington through George W. Bush.

• Social Justice and Human Rights Speeches
  Selected famous speeches on social justice topics, including racism, sexism, war and genocide.

• Marist Poll - The Marist Institute for Public Opinion, home of the Marist Poll, is a survey research center at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The Marist Poll regularly measures public opinion at the local, state, and national level.

• Gallup Poll - The Gallup Poll is one of the nation’s largest polling organizations. It actually provides a mix of polling and analysis of statistics from other sources.  Gallup also tracks a number of indexes that they have created for specific topics.

 

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