For this writing assignment, you will apply concepts from the course to analyze and evaluate a piece of public address.
Instructions
Choose one of the speeches below as the focus of your paper:
“Harvard Graduation Speech Called ‘The Most Powerful’ EVER (Links to an external site.)”. Donovan Livingston, ABC News (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGb8ZfZl_IE
“President Trump Signs Veterans Health Care Bill (Links to an external site.)”. Donald Trump’s Charlottesville address. C-SPAN (video)
https://www.c-span.org/video/?432523-1/president-trump-condemns-violence-charlottesville-va
“Trumka: Wisconsin Uprising Helped Spur Wave of Collective Action (Links to an external site.)”. Speech by Richard Trunka, September 25, 2018.
AFL-CIO (video)
https://aflcio.org/speeches/trumka-wisconsin-uprising-helped-spur-wave-collective-action
Write a 1250-1500 word paper engaging with the piece of public address:
Who would find the speech persuasive and why? Analyze its rhetorical style and arguments using the relevant concepts we’ve learned thus far.
Situate the speech and its arguments in the historic conversation and public arguments you have encountered in this course to evaluate its
effectiveness.
Identify how the speech relates to at least one of its contemporary social movements or how it participates in institutional/structural resistance to a
movement.