Advice on Studying for the Final
Structure of the Exam
- Remember that the exam is designed to test two abilities:
- to recall and explain perspectives that you have learned for understanding rhetoric (information driven)
- to take those perspectives and the concepts that form them to actual speeches, discussing those speeches intelligently, drawing conclusions about how the work, why they work that way, and their impact on the world (application driven)
- These abilities will be tested through
- recall (multiple choice and lists)
- short answers (definitions, comparisons and contrasts, explanations, responses to fairly specific questions)
- essay questions (applications)
Acquiring the concepts to work with speaking:
You read articles and book chapters that explained perspectives and concepts. These give you a way of explaining the goals and strategies that shape rhetorical activity
by Obama and other politicians. In studying these articles and book chapters,
the following questions should assist you:
- Who is the author?
- What is the title of the publication and the publication date?
- What are the key concepts (vocabulary that structures the understanding)? Their definitions?
- What is the logic that ties the concepts together?
- What is the central idea (thesis, research question) of the article?
- What does the article allow you to understand in a speech?
Then, you should be able to take the article and be able to use it to talk intelligently about the speeches you have studied.
Being familiar with Obama's speeches:
We read many of Obama's speeches (and even a couple speeches by others) that
allowed us to understand his speaking. In studying these speeches you should
ask:
- Who gave it? Where? When?
- What was the occasion for the speech?
- What were the main ideas?
- Who was the audience?
- Why was it given? (Purpose)
- What were some of its main strategies? its main themes?
- Was it successful? In what way? Why? Why not?
- What makes the speech memorable to you?
In preparation for intelligently reading these speeches, you may want to read
the introduction to Reid and Klumpp (available on Additional Readings on ELMS),
especially on how to read a speech.
Sythesizing
When assimilated, all this knowledge should permit you to answer:
- What are the key characteristics of Barack Obama, Speaker?
- How have these changed over time? Which have been constant?
- How does he pull these characteristic skills and materials together in formulating a speech in a particular situation?
- What are his strengths as a speaker?
- What are his weaknesses as a speaker?
You should have a facility to talk about him as a speaker, not merely as a chooser of policy.
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