Assignment:

Simply speaking this paper is a rhetorical criticism of one of top 100 speeches in American rhetoric. The speeches can be found at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html (Links to an external site.), I have also added some speeches from the 21st century and these can be found at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/21stcenturyspeeches.htm (Links to an external site.).  It should 3-5 pages in length, double spaced, in 12 point Arial font.

Objectives

There are three main objectives that I want you to get from writing this paper.  First, I want each of you to gain further practice in listening and unpacking formal public speaking.  Second, is to demonstrate mastery of theoretical concepts (namely the rhetorical situation) through application of these concepts in your writing of this essay.  Third, to offer background on one of the most highly regarded and popular speeches in American history.  Learning these concepts does not occur in a vacuum. The concepts you learn while writing this paper will increase your understanding how and why public speaking is so important to a healthy democracy.

Requirements

There are 6 overarching requirements.  First, apply an aspect of the rhetorical situation to your chosen speech.  Second, make an argument; you should be using the tools you learned during the argumentation lecture and apply them to make tight concise arguments. Essentially this means that you need to pick a part of the rhetorical situation and argue why it is the most important part for your project. Third, the paper should be 3-5 pages long.  This includes the bibliography/works cited but does NOT include a title page.  Fourth, you should be using a no fewer than 4 cited sources.  Fifth, make sure that it is written in APA or MLA format.  Sixth, it should be in 12 point Arial Font with 1 margins and double spaced.