Feb 19

MLA Redux

As discussed in class a week ago, the MLA changed its guidance in recent years on topics like URLs. So I’ve created a new Google Forms quiz so we can hammer down these pesky details in advance of the final essay draft. The quiz (scored for completion only) should take 20-30 minutes.

Different Modes of Eloquence

For lecture today, I’d like you to watch three different speeches. Each is excellent in its own way.

Harvard Male Orator Jonathan Roberts

I heard Roberts speak at Harvard’s graduation a few years ago, and I thought of him when I created this collection of videos. What do you think makes him memorable?

Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza

I found Garza’s speech in a YouTube search for Black Lives Matter activists. Her style is effective, but notably different in her approach from Roberts. What techniques does she draw on?

John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!

Columbia U linguist John McWhorter has a number of speeches up on YouTube, some of them more political than this. I chose this speech because it exemplifies the “Ted Talk Style.” What qualities distinguish Ted Talks from political speeches and graduation speeches?

Having watched all three videos, respond to one of the questions posed above and post in the appropriate space below. A bullet-point list of qualities or techniques is fine; you don’t need to write a ¶.