The Persuasive Speech
• The assignment is to deliver a persuasive argument no
shorter than 3 minutes and no longer than 5 minutes. For this assignment, you
are required to have notes in your hand, but you are not permitted to use visual aids, props, handouts, or passaround items.
• We'll talk about this assignment in considerable detail in class. Briefly, your job is to do either "PERSUASION of ACTUATION of ADOPTION" or "PERSUASION of ACTUATION of DISCONTINUANCE." You'll find these terms defined here. For the purposes of this assignment, you get to select your own target audience, and you may define your audience in any way you please. Just before you begin to deliver your speech, I'll read aloud to the class a "Statement of Audience" which you'll prepare in advance. Instructions for preparing your "Statement of Audience" are available here. In order for your speech to be persuasive and not coercive, you'll need to avoid using faulty logic, which is explained here. To avoid plagiarism, you should be careful to cite the sources of your facts. For an explanation of the ins and outs of speech citation, go here. This speech may not require you to use citation, but you may well need to use one or more, depending on what you say and where you get it. Remember that part of the assignment is for you to have notes in your hand. You'll find information about how to make and use speech notes here.
• The speech is worth a possible total of 30 points. Your grade will be based on the following three criteria:
a. Organization (33% = 10 points): I will be asking the following questions about your speech. Does your introduction draw audience attention, provide an orientation to the topic, and/or present a thesis? Is your thesis clear and memorable? Has your topic been effectively narrowed? Do you include transitions (e.g. forecasts, restatements) which help your listeners follow and remember key points? Does your presentation follow a logical pattern? Does your conclusion summarize and/or provide a clincher? (Note: If you organize according to the Modified Motivated Sequence, you will automatically earn all 10 of the organization points.)
b. Content (33% = 10 points): Does your speech actually do the job of persuasing your audience (as defined in your "Statement of Audience" card) to make a behavioral change of either adoption or discontinuance? If oral citations are necessary, have they been included, and have they been correctly constructed and situated? Do your sources provide recognizable authority? Do you include sufficient effective evidence (e.g., examples and statistics) to make your persuasive case? Does your speech reflect an understanding of your audience? Is your speech presented in appropriate language (diction, usage, grammar)?
c. Presentation (33% = 10 points): Important here are variety of rate, pitch, intensity and animation, your articulation and pronunciation, volume, rate, conversational tone of voice, use of tagging and/or patterning, eye contact, bearing (poise, appearance of ease, familiarity with speech), posture and movement, appropriate apparel and audience appeal. I will also consider your notes, which should appear on one side of one 4" x 6" index card. Your name should be on the other side of the card. You are not required to look at the card, but you’re required to have it in your hand. You should hold the card in one hand, so that you can read the notes without moving the card and the audience can not see the notes. You shouldn’t move the card, and you shouldn’t touch it with your free hand. I will factor into this part of your grade such issues as: whether or not the card is made to be of use, whether or not you use it productively when and if you need it, and whether or not you hold it in a manner which is likely to distract the audience from concentrating on the content of your speech.
• You will receive one grade — referred to as your "quality" grade — which takes into account all four of the criteria discussed above. If your speech meets the time requirements for the assignment, this grade will also be your "official" grade, which is the grade which will be recorded in my grade book. If your speech is shorter than the minimum required time, your "quality" grade will be prorated against the percentage of the minimum time requirement you used. (In other words, if you speak for two minutes, which is exactly two-thirds of the required three minutes, you will receive exactly two-thirds of your "quality" grade, and so on.) If you are still speaking at the end of five minutes, I will stop you and subtract 2.5 points (10% of the total value of the assignment) from your "quality" grade. For a more detailed explanation of the impact timing can have on your grade, see Grading of Speeches.
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