Area A - Foundations of Communication

Public Speaking

Students will:

• Craft and present well organized, thesis-driven speeches
• Present well-reasoned and appropriately supported oral arguments that are responsive to topic, purpose, audience, and occasion
• Deliver speeches using an audience-centered, extemporaneous approach
• Use rhetorical concepts and principles to evaluate the effectiveness of their own and others’ communication in both academic and civic contexts
• Use rhetorical concepts and principles to practice ethical and socially responsible public speaking, and to identify and evaluate ethical problems in public address

Rhetoric and Composition

Students will develop competence in these areas:

• Critical analysis of academic discourse: Students critically analyze linguistic and rhetorical strategies used in long and complex texts from a variety of genres, subjects, and fields
• Integrating multiple academic sources: Students incorporate multiple texts of length and complexity within a unified argumentative essay, addressing connections and differences among them
• Academic research: Students develop sophisticated research questions and compose substantial arguments in response to those questions, incorporating extensive independent library research and demonstrating mastery of standard academic documentation modes
• Style: Students edit their own prose to achieve a clear and mature writing style in keeping with the conventions of academic and/or professional discourse
• Revision: Students develop revision strategies for extending and enriching early drafts and for producing polished advanced academic writing

The Rhetoric and Composition (Core-A2) requirement MUST be completed at USF.