COMM 209:

Public Speaking

Course Syllabus | Fall 2016

Instructor: Amy Martinelli Office Hours: OLDH 413: T & R 9:30-10:30 Email: acmart@gmail.com Class Hours: NH-! 185 & R 11:00-12:15

Required Text:

Hogan, J. M., Andrews, P. H., Andrews, J. R., & Williams, G. (2014). Public speaking

and civic engagement. Boston: Pearson.

Readings:

Bitzer, L.F. (1968). The rhetorical situation. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1, 1-14. (Available

on Blackboard under "Course Documents")

Mission of the Department of Communication Studies

The mission of the faculty and students of the Department of Communication Studies is

to examine human symbolic activity as it shapes and is shaped by relationships,

institutions, technology, and culture. This work concerns the creation, analysis, and

critique of messages ranging from face-to-face to digital media contexts. The

department’s research and teaching devote particular attention to scholarly initiatives

aimed at understanding and explaining the role of communication in (a) facilitating civic

engagement, mediating public controversies, and organizing for social change, (b)

constituting individual and family health, promoting healthy behaviors, and helping

persons navigate relational challenges, and (c) creating, maintaining, and challenging

personal, social, and community identity in a complex and diverse world.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the instructor for a confidential

discussion of their individual needs for academic accommodation. It is the policy of the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln to provide flexible and individualized accommodation to

students with documented disabilities that may affect their ability to fully participate in

course activities or to meet course requirements. To receive accommodation services,

students must be registered with the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) office,

132 Canfield Administration, 472-3787 voice or TTY.

ACE Credit COMM 209 satisfies ACE Outcome 2A: communication competence in making oral presentations with supporting materials. As such, public speaking is a focus area of this course. Approximately half of the course is dedicated to teaching principles of effective oral presentations (including research, organization of material, delivery, visual aids) and giving you opportunities to practice your oral presentation skills with personalized feedback. This course is also designed to reinforce writing and critical thinking. Expectations Academic Honesty. Academic honesty and integrity is expected in this course. Any student who is found to have engaged in an act of academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, complicity, misrepresenting excuses for missing class or turning in late work) will automatically fail the assignment. Additionally, he or she may fail the course and/or be reported to his or her academic advisor and Dean for further action. Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse for academic dishonesty. See Section 4.2 of the Student Code of Conduct (http://stuafs.unl.edu/three.html) for definitions of what constitutes academic dishonesty. Email Etiquette: Questions and concerns can be addressed in person during my office hours listed above. I would also be happy to respond to questions and concerns through email – within reason. Please include the course title (COM 209) within the subject line of your email. I expect an appropriate personal address to begin your email, as well as an appropriate signature with your complete name at the end. Please proofread and punctuate your emails to represent the professionalism that is expected through all written correspondence. I will try my best to respond to emails with the above criteria completed in an appropriate time frame. Finally, I find that most questions inquired through email can be sufficiently answered by referencing the syllabus. Please consult your syllabus prior to inquiring through email. I reserve the right to respond to such inquiries with the appropriate page and line number as referenced on the syllabus. Attendance. I treat each student as a responsible adult. Part of being a responsible adult is that you attend class, on time, every time. Documentation is required for all excused absences. Excused absences include (a) personal illness or injury (b) a death in the family (c) a university sanctioned activity (with appropriate accompanying documentation prior to your absence). Documentation is required in all cases, regardless of reason.

A necessary component of public speaking is speaking to an audience. Because of this, attendance is MANDATORY on speech days whether you are presenting or not. You are expected to be physically and mentally present during other speakers’

presentations. If you are not respectably present during other speakers’ performances, a grade deduction will be taken from your speech grade.

Students must deliver their speech on their assigned speech date. If a student misses her/his assigned speech day without prior approval, s/he will not be allowed to complete the speech, which will result in a zero for the grade. Informing me you will not be there to speak does not constitute prior approval.

Cell Phones, Sleeping, Etc. Please respect your classmates and their learning experience (and yourself and your learning experience!). Turn off the ringer on your cell phone, stay focused on and engaged in the class discussion, and do not disrespect the contributions of your classmates by sleeping, texting, Facebooking, Pinteresting, etc. Failure to provide these and similar courtesies may result in your being asked to leave class. Additionally, if you are “checked out” of class, your instructor reserves the right to mark you as absent for the day. This may happen without you being verbally informed of your recorded “absence”. Participation. You are expected to participate actively in the course. In order to do so, you should prepare yourself by reading assignments before class and thinking critically about the material. Although you are encouraged to challenge ideas, you must show respect for people who share differing viewpoints in support of a climate that encourages participation from everyone. I acknowledge that individuals participate in different ways; however this is a public speaking class, and thus you are expected and encouraged to speak – publicly! Participation means that you are actively engaged, listening, and above all respectful to your classmates and your instructor. Dominating the conversation and class discussion can be distracting. Remaining silent during class discussion, however, does not represent an active public speaking engagement in the course and course concepts. Be respectful, be engaged, and be mindful of your contribution in relation to that of your classmates. Deadlines. Meeting deadlines is very important and a mark of professionalism. Late assignments will be docked 20% of the total points possible for every calendar day they are late, beginning the minute after the assignment date and time. Several assignments will be turned into SafeAssign on blackboard and will have a posted time an assignment is due. Course assignments turned in in class will be due at the beginning of class time. Those assignments not turned in with the collection of assignments at the beginning of class will be counted late and result in a grade deduction. Assignments will not be accepted more than four calendar days past the due date. In the event of a missed speech, you will not be able to make up the speech except in the case of verified illnesses, funerals, or university‐ supported activities and I have been contacted before the beginning of class the day of the scheduled speech. Written Work. The work you turn in should reflect your professionalism. All written assignments must be typed and proofread for errors. Handwritten work will not be accepted. All written work must be double spaced and typed in size 12 Times

New Roman font. Documents with more than 1-inch margins will result in a grade deduction. All work must include your full name, course name (COM 209), and assignment title in the one-inch header of a document. Page lengths are expected to be complete pages.

Hint: Check your margins, and make sure that your spacing after paragraphs is not providing additional spaces.

24/7 Rule. In the event that you receive a grade that you would like to discuss, please wait 24 hours to raise your concerns. This time is provided for you to carefully review all comments that I made and develop your thinking before we talk. After 24 hours but within seven days of receiving your grade, please make an appointment with me or visit my office hours to discuss your concerns and ways to help improve your work on future assignments. An appeal for any grade assigned in the course must be submitted in writing no later than seven days after receiving your grade. After seven days, all grades are final.

Statement on Special Needs Accommodation Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the instructor for a confidential discussion of their individual needs for academic accommodation. It is the policy of

the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln to provide flexible and individualized accommodation to students with documented disabilities that may affect their ability to participate fully in course activities or to meet course requirements. To receive accommodation services, students must be registered with the Services for

Students with Disabilities (SSD) office, 132 Canfield Administration, (402) 472‐3787

voice or TTY. Mission of the Department of Communication Studies The mission of the faculty and students of the Department of Communication Studies is to examine human symbolic activity as it shapes and is shaped by relationships, institutions, technology, and culture. This work concerns the creation, analysis, and critique of messages ranging from face-to-face to digital media contexts. The department’s research and teaching devote particular attention to scholarly initiatives aimed at understanding and explaining the role of communication in (a) facilitating civic engagement, mediating public controversies, and organizing for social change, (b) constituting individual and family health, promoting healthy behaviors, and helping persons navigate relational challenges, and (c) creating, maintaining, and challenging personal, social, and community identity in a complex and diverse world. Course Grading Scale

A = 93%+ B = 83‐86.9% C = 73‐76.9% D = 63‐66.9%

A‐ = 90‐92.9% B‐ = 80‐82.9% C‐ = 70‐72.9% D‐ =

60‐62.9%

B+ = 87‐89.9% C+ = 77‐79.9% D+ = 67‐69.9% F = <60%

Assignments & Exams

Your final grade will be determined based on your performance on the following. Full details for each assignment will be posted on Blackboard.

Introductory Speech (25 points): a 2-3 minute extemporaneous speech. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate a preliminary mastery of extemporaneous delivery techniques (eye contact, gestures, conversational delivery, and use of visual aids). A visual aid is required.

Public Speech in the Professions (75 points): A 4-6 minute speech designed to transfer professional (expert) information to a lay audience. Some form of presentational technology (e.g., Powerpoint, Prezi) must be used in this speech.

Informative Speech (75 points) – a 5-7 minute informative based speech that elaborates on a specific topic beyond common knowledge to your audience. All topics for this speech need to be approved by the instructor prior to the outline deadline.

Persuasive Speech (75 points) – A 5-7 minute speech designed to change the audience members’ attitudes toward an issue of policy. This should be related to some aspect of your nonprofit organization that you’ve chosen and interviewed. There must be a “call to action” portion of your speech encouraging your audience to take some form of action.

Speech Outlines (Two Outlines – Informative and Persuasion) (Two outlines 25 points each): Outlines must be submitted via SafeAssign on Blackboard prior to the speech presentation. They must be full sentence, include an introduction, preview, body, clearly marked supporting materials, transitions between main points, a conclusion, and a works cited page in APA format.

Written critique of a public speech (50 points): A 3-5 page critique of a public speech. You may critique a lecture, sermon, televised political address, etc. Use the concepts from Bitzer’s “Rhetorical Situation” to analyze the speech.

Exams (3 exams 100 points each): Exams will cover assigned readings and supplementary lecture material. The final exam will be in the form of essay questions.

Attendance and Participation (50 points): See attendance policy and class participation policy listed above.

Extra Credit (10 points maximum). You may earn extra credit by participating in a research project being conducted by a faculty member or graduate student in the Communication Studies Department. Each study is worth a varying amount of extra credit points based on the estimated time of completion outlined in the informed consent statement and the protocol of the study.

30 minutes or less: 2 points extra credit 30-60 minutes: 4 extra credit points 60-90 minutes: 6 extra credit points http://comm.unl.edu/dept/researchopportunities.shtml

Participation in these research projects is anonymous and voluntary. The instructor will not receive names of any research participants until the last week of the course. Extra credit will be documented at the last week in order to protect anonymity. As an alternate extra credit opportunity, you may go to the Communication Studies Speech Lab located in Burnett Hall 329, sign-in with your name and this class number, and have the staff videotape your performance for one of the assigned speeches. Watch the tape of yourself speaking, and write a 2-page (double spaced) critique on what you need to work on to improve your public speaking and speech writing skills. Be specific. Give concrete examples and suggestions from class to improve your performance. Turn in a hard copy of your critique. You may do this up to two times for two separate speeches. 5 points maximum for each write up. Write-ups are expected to be proofread, and represent critical thinking skills as well as significant background knowledge on course concepts. http://comm.unl.edu/ugrad/speechlab.shtml

Course Schedule

8/23 Topic + Assigned Reading Assignment Due 8/25 Introduction to Course Read Syllabus

8/30 Chapter 1 – Democratic Citizenship and the Ethics of Public Speaking

9/1 INTRODUCTION SPEECHES INTRODUCTION SPEECHES

9/6 Chapter 3 – Speaking with Confidence Chapter 2 – Listening and Speaking in a Democratic Society

9/8 Chapter 13 – Speaking to Inform Chapter 5 – Developing Significant Topics

9/13 Speech in the Professions Speech in the Professions

9/15 Speech in the Professions Speech in the Professions

9/20 Chapter 6 – Responsible and Productive Research

9/22 Chapter 9 – Outlining Your Speech

9/27 Chapter 7 – Supporting Ideas

9/29 Chapter 8 – Organizing Your Speech Informative Outline Due via Blackboard

10/4 INFORMATIVE SPEECHES INFORMATIVE SPEECHES

10/6 INFORMATIVE SPEECHES INFORMATIVE SPEECHES

10/11 Study Review for Exam 1

10/13 EXAM 1 EXAM 1

10/18 FALL BREAK NO CLASS

10/20 Chapter 4 – Diverse Audiences in a Democratic Society

10/25 Chapter 14 – Persuasive Speaking in a Democratic Society

10/27 Bitzer – Understanding the Rhetorical Situation

11/1 Chapter 15 – Arguing Persuasively

11/3 Chapter 10 – Using Language Effectively

WRITTEN CRITIQUE DUE IN CLASS

11/8 Chapter 17 – Speaking and Deliberating in Groups

11/10 Persuasive Outline Work Day –

11/15 Chapter 11 – Delivering Your Speech Effectively

Persuasive Outline Due Via Blackboard

11/17 EXAM 2 EXAM 2

11/22 Practicing Persuasive Speeches In Class

11/24 THANKSGIVING BREAK NO CLASS 11/29 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES PERSUASIVE SPEECHES

12/1 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES PERSUASIVE SPEECHES

12/6 Chapter 16 – Speaking on Special Occasions

12/8

Study for Final Exam – Course Evaluations

12/14 Final Exam: 3:30-5:30 PM