Description
Analyze a speech for its persuasive effects and textual rhetoric.
Instructions
Please complete the assignment in a single Word document and submit it to complete the assignment. All papers should be Word-processed and cited in the style you are most familiar with (such as APA, MLA, or Chicago). Your paper should be approximately 400–600 words, or two to three double-spaced pages, in Times New Roman with 12-point font and indented paragraphs. All papers must be free from typographical and spelling mistakes. Errors of grammar, syntax, and composition affect the assignment grade. Include a word count in your submission.
View “Ich Bin ein Berliner” (starting at 1:20) by John F. Kennedy and “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate” by Ronald Reagan. Choose either the Kennedy or Reagan speech and answer the following questions:
What was the purpose of this speech? Do you believe the speaker achieved this purpose?
What was the occasion of this address? How did the specific constraints and resources of the place, day, and circumstances help shape the speaker's remarks?
Who was the audience for this address? What common traits did the audience share? In what way did the speaker adapt the speech to this particular audience?
Briefly research the background of the speaker. How did the speaker overcome the constraints and use the resources of being who he was in this situation?
What types of supporting material and reasoning did the speaker use in this address? Provide examples from the speech of the types you find.
What cultural values and beliefs did the speaker appeal to in the address? Provide examples from the speech to support your observations.
Drawing on one of the methods of rhetorical criticism discussed in this lesson, evaluate the speech.
You are expected to use scholarly (peer reviewed) sources in your research. These include academic journals and books. In particular, find a scholarly article that helps you use the advance method of rhetorical criticism that you have selected in developing your analysis of the speech you have chosen. Use at least 2 scholarly sources in preparing this assignment. Newspapers, available online, can provide supplemental information, particularly with recent speeches that you will analyze, but only use newspaper articles that were written around the time of the speech; articles written much later tend to be historical appreciations. Many government and non-government agencies no longer publish official reports on paper, but their documents are available online as primary sources. Other webpages, especially social media, blogs, and news aggregators, lack the editorial review oversight that makes published information reliable, useful, and acceptable. Wikipedia can help you orient your academic search, but it is not a scholarly source.