Graduate Paper
Write a paper that tells us something about the character of public
orality in an American community.
Option 1: Locate a diary or journal that reports public life
in an American community from the time period covered in this course.
Write an essay describing the public life the diarist or journalist
experiences.
Option 2: Select an American locality and a particular time
during the period covered by this course. Using primary and/or secondary
sources, write an essay that describes public life in that community.
Option 3: Focus on a particular aspect of the place of speaking
in American communities. Of course, you will have to make certain that
the question you are asking is significant. Some examples of research
questions might be: What was the relationship between speaking on the
frontier and on the tidewater in pre-Revolutionary Virginia? What were
the differences between the style of the Senate and the style of the
stump during the era of the Silver Orators? What characteristics of
reformism in their time did the early speakers from the women's movement
shape into their discourse? Feel free to bounce other ideas off me.
Option 4: The Center for Political Communication and Civic
Leadership in the department is participating in the Voices of Democracy
project. You may fulfill the graduate assignment by selecting a speech
acceptable to Professor Parry-Giles and developing the necessary material
for the website posting. The material will be submitted to me for evaluation
if you choose this option.
Papers for the first three options should be 2500 to 3000 words (ten
to twelve pages of 12 point type). Please indicate word count with author
identification. Projects are due December 1. 20 percent of grade. Projects
will be evaluated based on: (1) the quality of the insight contained
in the project, (2) the quality of research, (3) the quality of the
writing or site preparation, and (4) the following of proper form. MLA
or APA form will be accepted. This might also be an excellent time to
use some of the archives in the Washington area, although that is not
necessarily a requirement for the project.
COMM 460