Directions: Your assignment is to submit a 500-word essay on Michelle Obama’s D.N.C. Speech.
Read these questions before listening/watching the speech to help guide your writing:
1. Name of the speech:
2. Date of the speech:
3. Speaker (also identify the author if different from the speaker):
4. Speaker’s position or title:
5. For what audience was the speech written?
6. For what occasion or purpose was the speech written?
7. Aspects of the speech (there are several possible ways to respond):
1. List three literary/rhetorical devices the speaker uses, and explain the effect of each on the speech as a whole:
2. Identify the method(s) of organization the speaker uses, and explain the effect of each on the speech as a whole:
3. What evidence in the speech helps you to know why it was written?
4. Write a question to the speaker that is left unanswered by the speech.
8. What kinds of arguments are used?
9. What kinds of evidence (facts, examples, statistics, expert testimony) are used?
10. What kinds of appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) are used in the speech? Give one example of each, if possible.
11. Pay close attention to the nonverbals utilized by the speaker and comment on their effectivity.
12. What do you think about the speaker’s delivery? (Note the speaker’s eye contact with the audience, physical stance, and vocal inflections.)
13. Do not submit a summary of the speech but rather an analysis.
14. Be extra mindful of the speaking situation such as the Speaker, Message, Channel, Listener, Feedback, Interference, Situation as discussed during lecture.
