Assignment: I have a Dream

Assignment: I have a Dream

Assignment: I have a Dream

Improving Your Confidence as a Speaker 9

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● Martin Luther King Jr. proclaiming, “I have a dream” ● Ronald Reagan beseeching Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” ● Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel looking beyond the end of one millennium

toward the next with “profound fear and extraordinary hope” ● Eleven-year-old Paris Jackson delivering her brief but heartfelt eulogy for

her father, Michael, tearfully saying, “I just want to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. I just want to say I love him so much.”

With the twenty-first century dawned a new era of speechmaking. It was to be an era that would draw on age-old public-speaking traditions— an era in which U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan would watch their children’s commencement ad- dresses live via streaming video. And it was to be an era that would summon public speakers to meet some of the most difficult challenges in history—an era in which a U.S. president would face a nation badly shocked by the events of September 11, 2001, and assure them that “terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of Amer- ican resolve.”15 Speakers of the future will continue to draw on a long and rich heritage, in addition to forging new frontiers in public speaking.

Improving Your Confidence as a Speaker Actor and celebrated emcee George Jessel once wryly observed, “The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops . . . until you stand up to speak in public.” Perhaps public speaking is a required class for you, but, because of the anxiety you feel when you deliver a speech, you’ve put it off for as long as possible.

The first bit of comfort we offer is this: It’s normal to be nervous. In a survey seeking to identify people’s phobias, public speaking ranked as the most anxiety-producing experience most people face. Forty-one percent of all respondents reported public speaking as their most significant fear: fear of death ranked only sixth!16 Based on these statistics, comedian Jerry Seinfeld suggests, “Given a choice, at a funeral most of us would rather be the one in the coffin than the one giving the eulogy.” Other stud- ies have found that more than 80 percent of the population feel anxious when they speak to an audience.17 Some people find that public speaking is quite frightening: studies suggest that about 20 percent of all college students are highly apprehensive about speaking in front of others.18

You may find comfort in knowing you are not alone in experiencing speech anx- iety. Even if your anxiety is not overwhelming, you can benefit from learning some positive approaches that allow your nervousness to work for you.19 First, we will help

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

• The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

  Discussion Questions (DQ)

  • Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
  • Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
  • One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
  • I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

  Weekly Participation

  • Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
  • In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
  • Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
  • Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

  APA Format and Writing Quality

  • Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
  • Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
  • I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

  Use of Direct Quotes

  • I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
  • As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
  • It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

   

  LopesWrite Policy

  • For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
  • Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
  • Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
  • Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

  Late Policy

  • The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
  • Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
  • If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
  • I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
  • As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

  Communication

  • Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
    • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
    • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.