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SPEECHWRITING (CUL-223404)

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Course Description:


Students will read and critique a wide range of speeches from a wide variety of writers (e.g., John F. Edward Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bob Newhart, Abraham Lincoln, Elie Weisel). Students also will read selections of texts on rhetoric (e.g., Aristotle's Rhetoric, Erasmus' writings on abundant speech, Perelman's New Rhetoric). Students will create "think pieces" designed to get them to discuss these speeches and actively engage the concepts and principles in each unit of the course. Additionally, students will link to online resources such as Rhetoric Central!, Douglass Archive of American Public Address, etc. Students themselves will write, critique and revise five types of ceremonial speeches: acceptance, apologia, commencement, dedication and eulogy. We anticipate bringing in "guest lecturers" -- professional speechwriters who will be available to offer different perspectives (subject to availability). We also will investigate ways of delivering speeches online (perhaps through asynchronous voice files), depending on the technology available to the students in the course.

This course fully meets the General Education requirement in Basic Communication.


This online course is offered through Online Learning. You can take this as an individual course or as part of an online degree program, with term starts in March, May, September, November and January. View current term offerings and all online courses. Click here to register for online courses.

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Liberal Study
Upper Level
Credits: 4
Meets General Education Requirement In: Basic Communication-Full

Term(s) Offered (Subject to Change) : Spring 1.

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