Americanrhetoric.com is a good resource for finding speeches. The speech you choose cannot be “I Have a Dream.” Your analysis should discuss four things: context of the speech, the audience of the speech, the linguistic choices of the speech, and the delivery of the speech. In terms of context, explain the historical context in which the speech was given. Tell me why the speech was necessary in that particular time, that particular place, and that particular occasion. Tell me how the context shaped what the speaker said in the speech. Support your claims with cited research that includes in-text citation and a reference page. In terms of audience, tell me about the demographic and psychographic characteristics of the audience. Tell me how the characteristics of the audience shaped the choices of the speaker. Support your claims with cited evidence: give me research that talks about what the make-up of the audience was, what they care about, what they were feeling when the speech was given, how well the speech was received, etc. In terms of linguistic choices, discuss the words of the speech. Draw from what the speech actually says. Does the speaker use alliteration, metaphor, imagery, anaphora, allusion, etc.? How does that contribute to the speech? How does the speaker organize the speech? Why does the speaker make those particular choices? In terms of delivery, discuss how the speaker sounds and presents her/himself to the audience. Is the delivery strong and passionate? Fast or slow? Does it change throughout the speech? How does the delivery affect the credibility of the speaker? Given all that information, discuss the effectiveness of the speech. What did you/did you not like about the speech?
