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COM 115: Fundamentals of Public Speaking

Master Syllabus, Summer 2018

Required Text:
Wahl, Brazeal, & Butland (2017), Public Speaking: Essentials for Excellence, 7th Edition, bundled
with GoReact access. This specific edition is only available through the Missouri State
Bookstore.

Additional Required Items for Online Students

 High-speed Internet connection and up-to-date computer and up-to-date browser. If you
do not have a high-speed Internet connection you will need to arrange to go somewhere that
you can access a high-speed connection to upload your video speeches.
 Webcam for your computer or a smart phone that you can film with and then transfer the
video to your computer to upload to Media Share.
 Missouri State University email account. All course correspondence will be sent only to the
student MSU email account. You will need to check your MSU email account daily for
information from your instructor.
 All written work must be submitted as a Word document or PDF in order to ensure it can be
opened.

Course Description:
Instruction and practice in researching, composing, and delivering formal and informal
speeches in a variety of public contexts. Representative topics include: ethics in public speaking;
listening; library research; outlining; delivery; writing in an oral style; evaluation of public
address; and analyzing and adapting to audiences. The course emphasizes informative and
persuasive speaking.

Student Learning Outcomes:

With appropriate effort and practice, at the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Understand and appreciate the role of public communication in public affairs and personal
development.
2. Analyze an audience and choose topics appropriate to the audience, occasion, and purpose.
3. Exercise ethical decision-making in speech research and preparation.
4. Access information using a variety of search strategies and relevant sources.
5. Distinguish between common knowledge and ideas requiring attribution. Correctly choose
between paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting when incorporating citations.
6. Employ supporting materials (e.g., explanations, examples, illustrations, statistics, analogies,
and quotations from relevant authorities) in a manner that establishes the speaker’s
credibility/authority on the topic.
7. Organize, synthesize, and communicate information from sources so the intended purpose is
achieved.
8. Demonstrate clearly and consistently an organizational pattern (specific introduction and
conclusion, sequenced material within the body, and transitions) within the presentation.
9. Create and evaluate arguments in speeches and other forms of public discourse.
10. Employ interesting and effective delivery techniques (e.g., posture, gesture, eye contact, and
vocal expressiveness).

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These specific course outcomes are in support of two of the Missouri State University General
Goals for General Education, and the specific Student Learning Outcomes for each of those
General Goals,

MSU General Goal 4: Students will be able to listen critically and speak thoughtfully,
clearly, and appropriately to a variety of social, academic, and professional audiences.

SLO4.2 - Demonstrate clearly and consistently an organizational pattern (specific introduction and
conclusion, sequenced material within the body, and transitions) within the presentation.

SLO4.4 - Employ interesting and effective delivery techniques (e.g., posture, gesture, eye
contact, and vocal expressiveness).

SLO4.5 - Employ supporting materials (e.g., explanations, examples, illustrations, statistics,

analogies, and quotations from relevant authorities) in a manner that establishes the
speaker’s credibility/authority on the topic.

MSU General Goal 6: Students will be able to know when there is a need for information
and then be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and responsibly use and share
that information for a particular problem.

SLO6.2 - Access information using a variety of search strategies and relevant sources.

SLO6.4 - Organize, synthesize, and communicate information from sources so the intended
purpose is achieved.

SLO6.5 - Distinguish between common knowledge and ideas requiring attribution. Correctly
choose between paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting when incorporating citations.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
There are three main categories of assignments in this class: speeches, exams/written
work, and participation/activities/quizzes.

Speeches
Students will give a minimum of four major graded speeches during the course of the semester.
Your instructor may add other speeches as time permits, for the purpose of developing your
skills in low-risk situations. All major speeches will be delivered extemporaneously. See your
text for more information on extemporaneous speaking.

Discussion Boards, Self-Evaluation of Speeches, and Quizzes:

There will be several Discussion Board assignments, a self-evaluation assignment after each
speech, and chapter quizzes over each chapter covered. There may be other assignments that
are assigned by the Instructor.

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GRADES
Final grades are based on a point and percentage system, where your final grade will be
determined by dividing the number of points earned by the total number of points possible.
Plus/minus grades will be assigned using the following scale:

A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F
93- 90- 87- 83- 80- 77- 73- 70- 67- 60- Below
100% 92% 89% 86% 82% 79% 76% 72% 69% 66% 60%

Assignments
“I’m In!” Greeting 15 points
Speech 1: Introduction 25 points
Speech 2: Demonstration 75 points
Speech 3: Informative 100 points
Speech 4: Persuasive 150 points

Outline 1: Demonstration 20 points

Outline 2: Informative 25 points
Outline 3: Persuasive 25 points

Self-evaluation of Introduction Speech 25 points

Self-evaluation of Demonstration Speech 25 points
Self-evaluation of Informative Speech 25 points
Self-evaluation of Persuasive Speech 25 points

Discussion Boards (7 x 15 points each) 105 points

Topic Approval (3 x 10 points) 30 points
Peer Reviews (2 @10 points) 20 points

Quizzes (12 x 20 points each) 240 points

Total points 930 points

Additional assignments can be added at the discretion of the instructor. Points will not
exceed 1000 total.

Course Policies

Assignment Deadlines and Late Policy

Every assignment in this course has an attached deadline. You can find the deadlines by
looking at the Weekly Calendar, which can be found on the Blackboard class course menu and
in the grade book.

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The University expects Instructors to be reasonable in accommodating students whose absence

resulted from participation in 1) university-sanctioned activities and programs; 2) personal
illness; or 3) family and/or other compelling circumstances. Please be prepared to provide
documentation verifying the basis of any absences resulting from the above factors.

If you have an emergency, illness, or other situation such as described above, that will prevent
you from meeting any deadline, submit this information to the Instructor by email before the
due date if at all possible. You will be asked to provide evidence in the form of a doctor’s note
or other evidence acceptable to your Instructor in order for the Instructor to consider accepting
a late assignment. It is up to the discretion of the Instructor to accept a late assignment. It is up
to the Instructor’s discretion whether to assess a 10% late penalty.

Attendance
Because this is an online class, and seated class attendance is not possible, you must realize that
it is imperative that you log on to our Blackboard class several times each week to work on and
complete assignments. This should begin by logging onto our class site on Blackboard the very
first day, just as you would come to class the very first day!

It is a reasonable conclusion that you will not be able to obtain a good grade unless you are
“attending” your class by working on your Blackboard class independently. I will not be there
to force you or remind you of this. I can see when you log onto Blackboard and do keep track
of who is participating in this manner and who is not.

Missed Speeches Outlines, Speech, and Other Assignments

Students are to upload their speech outlines and speeches on the day scheduled. Being unable
to do so means you have missed a deadline. Any and all other assignments are treated in the
same manner. Once a deadline is passed you may not make up the assignment, unless the
reason meets the requirements stated in the Late Policy section above.

Academic Integrity
Missouri State University is a community of scholars committed to developing educated
persons who accept the responsibility to practice personal and academic integrity. Students are
responsible for knowing and following the university’s student honor code, Student Academic
Integrity Policies and Procedures
(http://www.missouristate.edu/academicintegrity/policies.htm). A copy is also available at
the Reserves Desk in Meyer Library. Any student participating in any form of academic
dishonesty will be subject to sanctions as described in this policy. If you have questions, your
instructor will be happy to clarify.

Any student detected participating in any form of academic dishonesty in this course will be
subject to sanctions as described in the Student Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures. It
is not an acceptable defense to claim, “I didn’t know I was plagiarizing,” or, “I didn’t know
plagiarizing was prohibited.” All members of the University community share the
responsibility and authority to challenge and make known acts of apparent academic
dishonesty.

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Given the nature of a public speaking course, it’s particularly important for students to
understand what constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional
representation of another person’s ideas or words as your own, or to present all or part of a
work you’ve previously written as a new work (“self-plagiarism”). It is plagiarism to:

 Turn in any portion of someone else’s paper, speech, or outline as your own
 Use any portion of a speech from a “file” of previously used speeches and present it in
class as your original work
 Take passages from someone’s work (published or unpublished) and include it in a
speech, paper, or outline without citing the original author and using quotation marks
 Copy (word-for-word, or with some words changed or rearranged) another person’s
work without using quotation marks and appropriate citation
 Knowingly allow another student to use your work as their own
 Work with another public speaking student to essentially create one speech, with each
student giving a version of that speech in his/her own class
 Use all or part of a paper, speech, or other work you have previously written in your
speech. Consult your instructor if you have questions about how to properly approach a
speech topic for this course that you’ve written or spoken on outside of this course.

This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully gives you some concrete examples of what
plagiarism means. Your instructor will require that his or her students upload their major
written assignments to Blackboard, which uses SafeAssign to check all assignments.

All material submitted for evaluation must be the original work of the student and be produced
in the current semester. It is a form of academic misconduct to submit all or part of any speech,
outline or paper written for another course, a previous semester of COM 115, or competition for
a grade in COM 115 without your instructor’s knowledge and permission. This includes all
work produced as a high school student or used in high school competition.

If you are in doubt about whether an activity violates the academic integrity policy, it is your
responsibility to ask your instructor ahead of time.

Written Work
Your written work will be graded on both content and form. It should be typed and conform to
the latest edition (6th) of the American Psychological Association Style Manual. A good online
reference for APA Style is here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Dress
Appropriate dress is required for speeches. At a minimum, this means business casual dress.
Business casual dress means that you cannot wear jeans, shorts, ball caps, etc. You will have
points deducted from your speech if you do not follow this requirement. If you have a question
on the definition of business casual or have a question about a clothing item ASK BEFORE THE
SPEECH IS RECORDED AND SUBMITTED.

Mobile Phones (will not apply with online class)

As a member of the learning community, each student has a responsibility to other students
who are members of the community. When cell phones ring and students respond in class (or

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leave class to respond), it disrupts the class. This is especially problematic in a public speaking
course, when other students may be presenting their speeches when the mobile device goes off,
or when audience members are not giving the speaker their full attention.

Therefore, the Office of the Provost prohibits the use by students of cell phones, pagers, PDAs,
or similar communication devices during scheduled classes. All such devices must be turned
off or put in a silent (vibrate) mode and ordinarily should not be taken out during class. Given
the fact that these same communication devices are an integral part of the University’s
emergency notification system, an exception to this policy would occur when numerous devices
activate simultaneously. When this occurs, students may consult their devices to determine if a
university emergency exists. If that is not the case, the devices should be immediately returned
to silent mode and put away. Other exceptions to this policy may be granted at the discretion of
the instructor. Sanctions for violation of this policy are determined by the instructor and may
include dismissal from the class.

Audio and Video Recording Course Activity

Since COM 115 is a public speaking course, in seated sections your instructor may require you
to record your speeches and upload them to a password-protected website for self-and/or peer
evaluation. Students who wish to record lectures or class activities for study purposes should
inform the faculty member first. Distribution or sale of recordings or other course materials is
prohibited without the written permission of the instructor and other students who are
recorded. Distribution without permission is a violation of copyright law and the Code of
Student Rights and Responsibilities (Sections 4.6, 4.8, 4.9).

Dropping a Class
It is your responsibility to understand the University’s procedure for dropping a class. If you
stop attending this class but do not follow proper procedure for dropping the class, you will
receive a failing grade and will also be financially obligated to pay for the class. For information
about dropping a class or withdrawing from the university, contact the Office of the Registrar at
836-5520. See Academic Calendars (www.missouristate.edu/registrar/acad_cal.html) for
deadlines.

Statement of Non-Discrimination
Missouri State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution, and maintains
a grievance procedure available to any person who believes he or she has been discriminated
against. At all times, it is your right to address inquiries or concerns about possible
discrimination to the Office for Institutional Equity and Compliance, Park Central Office
Building, 117 Park Central Square, Suite 111, (417) 836-4252. Other types of concerns (i.e.,
concerns of an academic nature) should be discussed directly with your instructor and can also
be brought to the attention of your instructor’s Department Head. Please visit the OED website
at www.missouristate.edu/equity/.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability and anticipate barriers related to this course, it is important
to request accommodations and establish an accommodation plan with the University. Please
contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) (https://www.missouristate.edu/disability/),
Meyer Library, Suite 111, 417-836-4192, to initiate the process to establish your accommodation

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plan. The DRC will work with you to establish your accommodation plan, or it may refer you to
other appropriate resources based on the nature of your disability. In order to prepare an
accommodation plan, the University usually requires that students provide documentation
relating to their disability. Please be prepared to provide such documentation if requested.
Once a University accommodation plan is established, you may notify the class instructor of
approved accommodations. If you wish to utilize your accommodation plan, it is suggested
that you do so in a timely manner, preferably within the first two weeks of class. Early
notification to the instructor allows for full benefit of the accommodations identified in the plan.
Instructors will not receive the accommodation plan until you provide that plan, and are not
required to apply accommodations retroactively.

Religious Accommodation
The University may provide a reasonable accommodation based on a person’s sincerely held
religious belief. In making this determination, the University reviews a variety of factors,
including whether the accommodation would create an undue hardship. The accommodation
request imposes responsibilities and obligations on both the individual requesting the
accommodation and the University. Students who expect to miss classes, examinations, or other
assignments as a consequence of their sincerely held religious belief shall be provided with a
reasonable alternative opportunity to complete such academic responsibilities. It is the
obligation of students to provide faculty with reasonable notice of the dates of religious
observances on which they will be absent by submitting a Request for Religious
Accommodation Form to the instructor by the end of the third week of a full semester course or
the end of the second week of a half semester course. The form may be found here:
http://www.missouristate.edu/equity/47491.htm

Mental Health and Stress Management:

As a student you may experience a range of personal issues that can impede learning, such as
strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, feeling down, difficulty
concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may
lead to diminished academic performance and may reduce your ability to participate in daily
activities. You can learn more about free and confidential Missouri State University Counseling
Center services available to assist you at https://counselingcenter.missouristate.edu/.

Suicide Prevention
Missouri State University wants you to have information about national, regional, and local
suicide prevention programs available to students, faculty, and staff on and off Missouri State’s
campus. To learn more about these resources and other information about suicide prevention,
please visit the following website:
https://www.missouristate.edu/policy/Op1_08-suicide-prevention-available-suicide-
programs-and-related-procedures.htm

Title IX Policy:
Missouri State University has a Title IX policy that guides our response to instances of sexual
violence. Sexual Violence includes: Rape, Sexual Assault, Sexual Misconduct, Sexual
Discrimination, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, Sexual Harassment and
Pregnancy issues. The Title IX policy can be located on the MSU Title IX website

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at www.missouristate.edu/titleix/. This website is also a good resource for any questions or

issues involving Title IX and contains contact information for the MSU Title IX Office and staff.

If an MSU student discloses a Title IX related issue to a MSU faculty or staff member who is
deemed to be a “Responsible Employee” under the policy, that faculty or staff member is
required to report such disclosure to the Title IX Coordinator. A responsible employee includes
any employee who has the authority to take action to redress sexual violence; who has been
given the duty of reporting incidents of sexual violence or any other misconduct by students to
the Title IX Coordinator or other appropriate school designee; or whom a student could
reasonably believe has the authority or duty to take action. Taylor Health employees and MSU
Counseling Center Clinicians are not considered to be Responsible Employees under the policy,
and therefore, are not required to report Title IX issues to the Title IX Coordinator.

Emergency Response:
At the first class meeting, students should become familiar with a basic emergency response
plan through a dialogue with the instructor that includes a review and awareness of exits
specific to the classroom and the location of evacuation centers for the building. All instructors
are provided this information specific to their classroom and/or lab assignments in an e-mail
prior to the beginning of the fall semester from the Office of the Provost and Safety and
Transportation. Students with disabilities impacting mobility should discuss the approved
accommodations for emergency situations and additional options when applicable with the
instructor. For more information go to http://www.missouristate.edu/safetran/51597.htm and
http://www.missouristate.edu/safetran/erp.htm.

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