PPOG 635 Speech Writing for Candidates and Officeholders

Speech Writing for Candidates and Officeholders is a research and writing course instructing students in the drafting of comments, sound bites, and full campaign and policy speeches for use by candidates and office holders.

Effective communication is the lifeblood of governance and the political and public policy processes. PPOG 635 introduces public policy students to the art and craft of writing speeches for political candidates and political officeholders. It is in this course that public policy students will begin learning to refine substantive policy ideas and to craft effective speeches of the kinds needed and demanded by today’s political leaders.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (4)

The student is required to provide a thread in response to the provided topic for each discussion. Each thread must be 400–500 words in length and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be original and unique and should be 200–250 words.

Speech Review Assignments (2)

The student will be required to submit 2 short, 5-page Speech Review Assignments in this course. The papers must be written in current Turabian format, utilize and cite appropriate sources in sufficient quantity to justify the student’s position and/or conclusions, and should, in all other respects, accord with the standards of academic writing.

Candidate Announcement Speech Assignments

This assignment consists of 4 subsequent building assignments. This assignment places the student in the seat of a new speechwriter who has been assigned the task of crafting a candidacy announcement speech for a fictional political candidate. All information necessary to  compile all components of this assignment is provided in the “Candidate Announcement Speech Memorandum” document included in the Assignment Instructions folder of the course.

Opening Assignment

The student will compose an 400-600-word opening to effectively introduce the speaker and prepare the audience for the substance of the speech and present the speaker in the best light possible. In the opening the student must fully consider and effectively deal with political subtleties and practical ramifications of the communication, biases of the audience, opposition etc. This opening must be written in current Turabian format and citations are only necessary if attributed languages is borrowed from other sources.

Rough Draft Assignment

The student will compose an 1200-2000-word speech rough draft. This rough draft must persuasively and effectively introduce and establish the credibility of the candidate, effectively cast a vision for the candidate’s leadership, and announce the candidate’s candidacy. It is important that the speech rough draft consider and effectively deal with political subtleties and practical ramifications of the communication, biases of the audience, likely opposition, etc. This assignment must be written in current Turabian format and citations are only necessary if attributed languages is borrowed from other sources.

Final Draft Assignment

The student will compose an 1200-2000-word speech final draft. This rough draft must persuasively and effectively introduce and establish the credibility of the candidate, effectively cast a vision for the candidate’s leadership, and announce the candidate’s candidacy. It is important that the speech final draft consider and effectively deal with political subtleties and practical ramifications of the communication, biases of the audience, likely opposition, etc. As this is the final draft of the speech, it is important that the student incorporate feedback provided to the Rough Draft, to effectively incorporate the speechwriting concepts covered in the course, and polish all language to produce a high-quality final draft of the speech. This assignment must be written in current Turabian format and citations are only necessary if attributed languages is borrowed from other sources.

Press Release Assignment

The student will be required to submit 1 short, 1-page Press Release Assignment during the course. The Press Release must be written in the format of the Model Press Release, which will be provided to the student.