Fundamentals of Speech Communication

You will study of basic concepts of speech communication as applied to public speaking. You will develop skills in research, preparation, delivery, and critique of oral speeches. Skills will be demonstrated through classroom work.

After successfully completing this course, you should be able to:

• Demonstrate and explain the communication process.
• Construct effective presentations based on astute audience analysis.
• Select appropriate and effective topics for assigned presentations.
• Organize presentations in a unified an effective manner.
• Utilize supporting materials for effective presentations.
• Present solid evidence and arguments in order to produce effective presentations.
• Select and integrate appropriate visual aides into presentations for impact.
• Effectively manage communication apprehension.

In the professional world, if you can’t show up on time and make your deadlines, you won’t keep your job. Assignments must be completed on time in the format specified. The only accepted excuses for late work or missed speeches or exams are noted in the attendance policy. No exceptions. Plan ahead.

Because abundant lecturing tends to be counterproductive for both the students and the instructor, I try to include activities that are more interesting than straight lecture, such as discussions, critiques, hand-on application of what we are learning, etc. The success of this format depends on your willingness to actively participate in class discussions and other activities.

Attendance and participation are critical to your success. Another way to describe this is professionalism. Professionalism means that you’re here, ready to engage in new opportunities. You are expected to arrive on time, be prepared, actively participate, and stay for the full class period. If you miss class, you miss the chance to participate in your education and the education of others in class. If you miss class without an acceptable excuse you get a zero for that day’s participation and class work and any work that is due.

The acceptable excuses are: the death of a family member, personal illness, required attendance at an official school function, and verifiable emergency. You must notify me before you miss a class, except when an emergency happens on the way to class. If an emergency happens on the way to class, you must notify me on the same day. If I cannot be reached, leave a voice mail. My phone number is (940) 397-4375.

If you fail to notify me before missing a class you will receive a zero for work due and/or performed during that class unless it is a verifiable emergency.

Your illness must be serious to be excused. Thus, you must see a medical practitioner and get a signed note on official stationary from your doctor or the student health clinic.

For an official school function,you must present a signed note before missing class. The note must be on official school stationary, and it must be signed by the appropriate university official. If you do not have a signed note on official school stationary, you will receive a zero for the work due or that you missed.

For a death in the family,you must notify the instructor before missing class. When you return, you must give the instructor a copy of the program for the funeral. If you do not have a copy of the program, you will receive a zero for the work due or that you missed.

If you have an emergency, you must provide documentation to me, such as an accident report or towing bill. If you do not have documentation, you will receive a zero for the work due or that you missed.

When you have an acceptable excuse, you are responsible for finding out what you missed and arranging to make it up with the instructor. Missed work must be made up within one week of when your return to class, or you will receive a zero.

If you miss more than two classes, or if you are habitually late or leave early, your final grade may be lowered by 1/3 letter grade for each instance beyond two absences. If you have difficulty with the attendance and participation (professionalism) requirement, you may be dropped from the class.

I reserve the right to determine what, exactly, constitutes an excused absence or when a late arrival is excusable.

Some additional guidelines:

• You are responsible for all material presented in every class period, whether present or not.
• If you miss a class period you should obtain the material presented from another classmate. (I will not repeat lecture material that was missed. Handouts are available from my office.)

Academic Dishonesty

• Students are expected to adhere to the Standards of Conduct as published in the Student Handbook. Students should refer to the current MSU student handbook and activities calendar for University policies and Student Honor Creed on academic dishonesty, class attendance, student’s rights, and activities.
• The main statement from the MSU Student Honor Creed should be a guiding principal for you: “As an MSU student, I pledge not to lie, cheat, steal, or help anyone else to do so.”
• I reserve the right to drop any student with an F if he/she engages in any form of academic dishonesty.  I further reserve the right to recommend other sanctions as may be appropriate.  Students are also encouraged to consult the following sources for additional discussion of students’ rights and responsibilities regarding cheating, attendance and general conduct:
• The MSU Student Honor Creed
• Pages 18-21, 72-78, and 83-85 of the 2010-2012 MSU Undergraduate Catalog
• Pages 4, 35-46, 51-76 of the 2010-2011 MSU Student Handbook (the handbook is also available online at http://forms.mwsu.edu/uploaded-forms/Student-Handbook-20100825-163916.pdf).
• In addition, the university requires faculty to provide this statement to all students:“By enrolling in this course, the student expressly grants MSU a “limited right” in all intellectual property created by the student for the purpose of this course.  The “limited right” shall include but shall not be limited to the right to reproduce the student’s work product in order to verify originality and authenticity, and educational purposes.”
• On the Internet, plagiarism is especially easy. DO NOT give in to the temptation to copy-and-paste other people’s work! Your work must be your own. If you plagiarize as a professional and get found out, you will damage if not destroy your own reputation and do great harm to the reputation of any organization you work for. In this class, plagiarism will have dire consequences.
• No cell phones, headphones, music, computer games, nor texting/IMing/e-mail/camera devices of any description are to be used during class: ZERO TOLERANCE. This means all aforementioned devices (and presently unknown versions of such) are to be turned off and out of your sight and mine.  This policy is based on my view that these things are distracting, hence counterproductive to the learning goals in this course.  Violation of this policy will be considered a conduct issue and an extremely bad plan.

Privacy

Federal privacy law prohibits me from releasing information about students to certain parties outside of the university without the signed consent of the student.  Thus, in almost all cases I will not discuss your academic progress or other matters with your parents.  Please do not have them call me.  Regardless of these important legal considerations, it is my general policy to communicate with the students, not their parents, even when a student has signed a consent form.  College students are adults and are expected to behave accordingly.

Special Accommodations

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information that needs sharing, or if you need special accommodations in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible.