COURSE INFORMATION

OVERVIEW

The public speaking course here at the University of Washington has a long and distinguished history. Some of the first students at UW would have taken a course in rhetoric similar to the current course in public speaking. While the syllabus has changed, as have the teaching methods, the need for students to develop strong speaking skills remains essential. Given the demands for good communication skills in the civic realm and in the workplace, a course in public speaking is perhaps more important than ever. But in joining the ranks of UW speech students, you will quickly learn the lesson that your predecessors learned, “there is no quick path to a great speech.” Good speaking is developed through practice and hard work.

The public speaking course is a unique course. Unlike, say, a course in the principles of law or the history of Central Asia, the public speaking course requires you to both know content and be able to perform a skill well. Both content and skills are important. You will learn important principles of public speaking and argumentation, but simply knowing these principles is insufficient; you must also be able to apply them well. By the same token, you might be able to get through a speech without saying “um,” but if the content of the speech is bad, it is not a good speech. The best public speakers not only speak smoothly, they also say important and interesting things.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course objectives are deceptively simple: By the end of this quarter, you should be able to compose and deliver a clear, convincing, and compelling speech on a public issue using solid evidence. In service of this goal, we will study the principles of argumentation and arrangement, critically examine our own speeches and the speeches of others, and practice, practice, practice. By becoming a student of public speaking, you join a long history of rhetorical study dating back to ancient Greece. This course thus advances the mission of the Department of Communication to nurture socially responsible, literate citizens who can interpret and evaluate the images and messages they create and receive.

SPEAKING CENTER

The Speaking Center is open to all COM 220 students. The lab is located in the Communication Building (CMU) room 222. I consider the Center to be an extension of the class. The center is a space to refine your skills, address questions, and practice your speeches. I and the TAs will hold our office hours in there. Additionally, the Center's undergraduate tutors are there to help you with your speeches. Each one of these tutors has completed COM 200 (and did quite well). Students who make regular use of this resource become better speakers and do better on their assignments. The Center's hours for the quarter are posted on the course website.

CLASS EXPECTATIONS

1. Arrive on time, leave on time. I will start class on time and end it on time. I realize that you have many demands on your time, but you signed up for this class at this time. I now expect you to schedule around it. You may think that arriving late/leaving early is simply a personal issue; that you can get in or out of class without disturbing class. This is false. It disturbs me in my lecture and it draws the class's attention to your movement. Do not arrive late and do not leave early (this includes packing up).

2. Do the reading and homework. I will start the lecture on the assumption that you have completed the reading. The same holds true for the homeworks. They are not busy work—I don't have time to look at busy work. These are assignments designed to reinforce certain themes or give you focused practice on some element of speech preparation.

3. Be here mentally and physically. You will notice that there are a few days when class is cancelled. I didn't want to have a class meet unless I could pack it with essential information. The flip side of this is that each day is important. Don't come to class and sleep. I want you here and thinking about the information. Most of the material is covered in lecture so it is in your best interest to be in lecture.

4. Attend section. Sections are not optional. This is where you deliver the speeches and hand in assignments. Beyond that, sections are essential since they provide audiences for speeches. You owe it to your classmates and to yourself to attend section. A speaker needs an audience.

5. Work on your speeches. I know you are busy. Speeches, however, are time intensive, both in terms of researching and practicing. If you wait until the night before to put together your speech, your grade will suffer. I have built in assignments that give you feedback at various levels of speech preparation. Again, this isn't busy work; the assignments are there to give you feedback at key points during speech preparation process. Also, you are responsible for setting up your practice time. The speaking center is there to give you a space to practice and get quality feedback from the tutors. But only practicing once isn't sufficient (or only practicing the day before your speech). It's like signing up for a gym membership. Just signing up won't make you loose weight or build muscle; you have to get yourself in the gym and use the equipment. Just signing up for this class doesn't guarantee that you will become a significantly better speaker; that's up to you. I provide the equipment and training, but you gotta provide the muscle.

SPEAKING ASSIGNMENTS

We will discuss the course assignments in greater detail in the lecture and in later parts of this packet; this is a brief overview of the course work.

This course takes the public in “public speaking” very seriously. All speech assignments will be about issues that spark disagreement in the public. These issues can range from the local to the regional to the national and international. But all speeches will address issues that affect the public as a collective and are debated publicly by at least two sides.

Impromptu Speech (6 minutes of preparation followed by a 4 minute speech): Impromptu speaking reinforces all aspects of good public speaking: quick thinking, sound argumentation, strategic word choice, and engaged delivery. Each student will randomly pick two thesis statements from an envelope. Choosing one of them, the student will go into the hallway for 6 minutes to prepare, the student will then return to the room and deliver a 4 minute speech supporting or opposing the thesis. Your speech will be assessed based on your ability to come up with credible arguments, which are appropriately arranged and effectively presented, within the constraints of the short preparation time allowed. Please see the assignment description in this book for a detailed list of the assignment requirements.

Persuasive Speech (6-8 minutes): Unlike the impromptu speech, where your goal is to simply develop and deliver credible arguments clearly and effectively, your goal in the persuasive speech is to persuade those who disagree with you . The persuasive and the advocacy speeches require you to speak to a public issue. Given what you know about the controversy, the arguments circulating in the public forum, and the classroom audience, you should attempt to increase the audience's understanding and support for your position. Your speech will be assessed based on your ability to develop a logically sound and persuasive speech that moves disagreeing members of your audience. Please see the assignment description in this book for a detailed list of the assignment requirements.

Advocacy Speech (4-5 minutes): Rather than persuade disagreeing members of your audience, your goal in the advocacy speech is to intensify beliefs already held by the sympathetic members of your audience and motivate them to take some form of action. This speech round will be held in an outdoor public location to allow us to work on delivery and audience engagement. Your speech will be assessed based on your ability to develop convincing arguments that intensify commitment and encourage action. Please see the assignment description in this book for a detailed list of the assignment requirements.

QUIZZES

Periodically, there will be quizzes on the lecture material, the textbook readings, and the online videos. These quizzes will generally be announced ahead of time, but they also may be pop quizzes. You should always come to class prepared to take a quiz on the lecture material and recent course readings and online videos. THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES. IF YOU MISS CLASS ON A DAY OF A QUIZ, YOU RECEIVE A 0 FOR THAT QUIZ. For this reason, your lowest three quiz grades will be dropped from the calculation of your final grade. Do not email me or your TA ahead of time asking if there will be a quiz in class on a certain day.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

Topic Selection Paper: Since you will address the same topic for both your persuasive and advocacy speeches, it is important that you select a good one that addresses a public issue and interests you and your audience. In order to assist you on that path, this assignment asks you justify your proposed topic. You must select two potential topics. For each topic, you must show that this topic is debated publicly and provide an annotated bibliography demonstrating that there are enough sources to support your claims. Your TA will read these and provide recommendations on which topic might serve as the best one. Please see the assignment description in this book for a detailed list of the assignment requirements.

Gallery Walk Presentations: Prior to delivering your persuasive and advocacy speeches for a grade, you will deliver a full run through to get some practice and feedback. The gallery walk presentations are full practiced run throughs. Each student will be assigned to a gallery walk day (based on the speaker order). On that day, the presenters will deliver their speech for a small audience a few times and receive some feedback from that audience. Please see the assignment description in this book for a detailed list of the assignment requirements.

Persuasive Speech Outline: Outlining your speech provides you an opportunity to develop argument and make language choices in a format conducive to extemporaneous speaking. Your outline will be assessed based on you ability to arrange your speech material in a clear and effective manner, reference relevant evidence in appropriate places, and provide a map of the speech. You will turn in an outline for your persuasive speech. Your TA will review this outline and return it to you with recommendations for your speech. You must turn in two copies of your outlines to your TA.

Failure to turn in two copies of your outline will mean that the assignment is incomplete. One copy will be graded and returned to you with recommendations; the other will be kept in a departmental file used to detect plagiarism. Please see the assignment description in this packet for a detailed list of the assignment requirements..

• YOUR OUTLINE IS DUE THE DISCUSSION SESSION AFTER YOU PRESENT IN THE GALLERY WALK

Self-Critiques: After delivering a speech, you should spend some time critically reflecting on that speech. You must complete a self-critique of both your impromptu and persuasive speeches. You will need to view a DVD of your speech and write a short paper evaluating your speech according to the standards set in class. Your self-critiques will be assessed based on your ability to provide clear, insightful, and accurate analysis. Please see the assignment description in this book for a detailed list of the assignment requirements and instructions for obtaining and viewing your performance DVD. YOUR SELF-CRITIQUES ARE DUE ONE WEEK AFTER YOU DELIVER YOUR SPEECH.

Peer Critiques: Like a number of other arts, we refine our public speaking abilities through a mixture of instruction, practice, and imitation. As such, critically examining your peers' speeches provides you another venue for thinking about how to adapt to the complexity of different rhetorical situations. Additionally, individual speakers benefit immensely from articulate feedback from their audiences. Over the course of the quarter, you will be required to critique your classmates' speeches. These peer critiques will be assigned before the speech rounds begin. You will be required to provide oral criticism following a peer's speech. This is another speech assignment in this class; this is not simply “giving your thoughts.” Rather, this is like a short impromptu speech aimed at identifying some of the strongest and weakest elements of a peer's speech.

All homeworks will be graded on a √/- system. The distribution system is as follows:

• 9 completed homeworks = 35 points
• 8 completed homeworks = 31 points
• 7 completed homeworks = 27 points
• 6 completed homeworks = 23 points
• 5 completed homeworks = 19 points
• 4 completed homeworks = 15 points
• 3 completed homeworks = 11 points
• 2 completed homeworks = 7 points
• 1 completed homeworks = 3 points
• 0 completed homeworks = 0 points

NOTE: Self critiques, the topic selection paper, and the persuasive outlines must be typed).

POLICIES

First Week of Class: Students who are enrolled in this course but do not attend all regularly scheduled class meetings during the first week of the quarter are subject to being dropped from the course. Students should contact the course instructor if they must be absent any day during the first week of the quarter. Students must not assume that not attending class will automatically result in their being dropped. Students themselves are responsible for officially dropping courses.

Adding the Course: There are no add-codes for this course. All adds and drops will be taken care of automatically by the University registration system.

Late Assignments: For purposes of equity and fairness for all students, you will be given a reasonable amount of time to complete all written assignments (e.g. outlines, self-critiques, peer critiques). Since the deadlines for some assignments are different for different students (depending on which day you speak or critique), it is up to you to keep track of when your assignments are due. An assignment is on time when it is delivered to the teacher at the beginning of the class session on the day it is due. In the event that you do not turn in your homework in class on the day it is due, you will not receive credit for that homework.

Special Needs: To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, 543-8924 (V), 543-8925 (TTY), or uwdss@u.washington.edu . Please present your letter from DSS indicating that you have a disability that requires academic accommodations to your instructor or the course coordinator so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for the class.

Grievance Policy: If you have any concerns about the course or your TA, please see your TA about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the TA or you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the faculty course coordinator, Matt McGarrity, at 543-7854 or at mcgarrit@u.washington.edu . If you are still not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the Chair of the Department of Communication, Gerald Baldasty, at 543-2662.

If you wish to challenge a grade you received on an assignment, you should wait 24 hours after receiving the grade. Then, make an appointment with your TA to discuss the grade. If you are unsatisfied after that meeting, you should make an appointment to discuss the grade with course coordinator. You have 2 weeks after receiving a grade to challenge that grade. After which time, grade challenges will not be considered.

Attendance: Each class meeting is an opportunity to participate in lectures and discussions. Because participation and cooperative learning are essential to the academic design of this course, your absence on a day when you are scheduled to speak or critique hurts your fellow students and impairs your own learning process. For this reason, the following rule is in place: FAILURE TO ATTEND ON A DAY WHEN YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO DELIVER A SPEECH OR A CRITIQUE WILL RESULT IN A 0 FOR THAT ASSIGNMENT. If an absence is unavoidable, you can take some actions to avoid these penalties:

• If you know that you will not be able to attend on a day when you are scheduled to speak (or critique), you must make arrangements with a classmate to switch speaking (or critiquing) positions as soon as possible. You must also inform your TA of this change. If you are traveling on a University trip (athletic competition, field trips, etc.), it is your responsibility to work with your TA to negotiate your speaking and critiquing schedule with your travel schedule.

• If a serious illness or emergency prevents you from performing your duties, you should do everything you can to contact your instructor as soon as possible. Prompt consultation with your instructor (within 24 hours) and documentation of the unavoidable incident (e.g., a note from your doctor, a copy of the accident report, etc.) might result in the scheduling of a make-up speaking or critiquing assignment if the instructor deems the circumstances that caused the absence to be severe enough to merit rescheduling and if there is time in the schedule to accommodate a make-up assignment.

• Regardless of the reason, a rescheduled speech is subject to late assignment penalties. If you must reschedule, that speech will receive an automatic 10% deduction for each class day that it is late.

Academic Integrity:

The University's definitions of academic and personal misconduct are outlined in the Student Conduct Code (available in your University of Washington Student Planner pages 97-103 and online at http://www.washington.edu/students/handbook/conduct.html ). It is your responsibility to read and understand the University's expectations in this regard. Until you have read the Code , do not assume that you know what this University defines as cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic misconduct.

Plagiarism is a significant violation of the Student Conduct Code and will be dealt with severely in this class. It is important for you to know that plagiarism is any representation of another person's words or ideas in a manner that makes it seem as if they were your own, in either oral or written form. This means that you may not copy another person's paper or speech. But it also means that you should not use another person's unique phrases or organizational schemes without making it clear to your audience where those words or ideas originated. Your work should be entirely your own.

If it becomes evident that you have collaborated with another student and/or plagiarized work, the matter will be immediately turned over to the University's Committee on Academic Conduct. For more on plagiarism, including a review of proper and improper paraphrasing practices, see http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm .

Additionally, it is the policy of the Department of Communication that the same speech may not be given for credit in more than one class. If you are taking (or have taken) COM 334 (Essentials of Argument), or some other course with speech assignments, you may not recycle a speech by giving it in both classes.

Classroom Conduct: When engaged in your role as a speech critic, please be constructive in your comments. This does not mean that you should ignore the flaws in your classmates' speeches; on the contrary, it is your responsibility to identify those flaws and communicate your suggestions for improvement to your classmates. Always treat your classmates with respect, framing your comments regarding strengths and weaknesses of their speeches in a manner intended to help them improve.

GRADING SYSTEM

There are 300 total possible points in this course.

Assignment Point Value Percentage of the final grade

Impromptu Speech	55	18%
Persuasive Speech	80	27%
Advocacy Speech	90	30%
Quizzes	40	13%
Homeworks	35	12%
Total:	300 points	100%

Grades will be assigned based on your final number of accumulated points. For a discussion of the grade ranges, please see your student handbook or visit: http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html

A Range (90-100%) 100% = 4.0 99% = 4.0 98% = 4.0 97% = 4.0 96% = 4.0 95% = 4.0 94% = 3.9 93% = 3.8 92% = 3.7 91% = 3.6 90% = 3.5

B Range (80-89%) 89% = 3.4 88% = 3.3 87% = 3.2 86% = 3.1 85% = 3.0 84% = 2.9 83% = 2.8 82% = 2.7 81% = 2.6 80% = 2.5

C Range (70-79%) 79% = 2.4 78% = 2.3 77% = 2.2 76% = 2.1 75% = 2.0 74% = 1.9 73% = 1.8 72% = 1.7 71% = 1.6 70% = 1.5

D Range (62-69%) 69% = 1.4 68% = 1.3 67% = 1.2 66% = 1.1 65% = 1.0 64% =.9 63% =.8 62% =.7 Below .6 is failing grade