Final

Self-Reflection


TO: Joshua Adams -Professor
FROM: Becky Foster COMM 1020
DATE: 04/22/2019
RE: Final Self-Reflection

In this final self-review, you will read about what I discovered and learned during this Communications course.
Being a little bit more personal, I have learned that I have more natural instincts in public speaking than I had originally
thought. However, as you are about to read, there was a lot I needed to learn and still more to grow from as experiences
and growth are offered to me in the future. Strategies I benefited from the most are: organization of my speeches,
audience assessment and adaption, and speech anxiety management. Other topics that are covered in this self-review
paper include: appeals and integrated evidence (logos, pathos, and ethos), delivery and visual aids, and how to
successfully conclude a speech.

Organization
If I could only pick one strategy I am excited about it would be organization. Understanding how to organize all
my random thoughts and research, and where to place them in a standard format has helped me so much! Now that I
understand how to organize, my speeches have “logical consistency and clarity…”. (132). I felt like I had more balance in
my outlines, therefore I felt more confident and prepared when it came to practice and presenting my speeches. It also
helped me see if my outlined points were even sufficient and substantial. Although at times it made me start over from
scratch, it saved a lot of time and under developed speeches in the long run. I have also enjoyed learning the specific
organizational patterns for different types of speeches. I like the problem-cause-solution pattern best when I did my
persuasive speech on comprehensive sex ed, because it allowed me to break everything down very easily. I felt like my
points and subpoints followed so naturally with this type of organization, and it allowed me to address the problem
simply in five to six minutes without wasting time in getting to my overall point.

Appeals and Integrated Evidence
Logos:
“Aristotle used the term logos when referring to persuasive appeals that rest on reason and arguments.”
(220). Using logos in my speeches taught me to back my work up. It could not be based purely on emotion or my
personal experiences. Logos, as Aristotle describes it, allows you to base your arguments on logic and evidence. I
think one logical fallacy I still struggle with is ad populum fallacy. It is easy to look at or state “evidence” that is
considered popular or one sided, especially when I am on the winning popular side. One logical fallacy I have
become better at is hasty generalization. I am slower to jump to conclusions based on something startling or
gossipy when I watch the news or see any other source of information.
One example of one-sided opinions I needed to avoid was in my persuasive speech about comprehensive
sex education in public schools. There were a lot of popular bashing opinions about President Trump (especially
on Planned Parenthood) changing the sex ed programs placed in schools to support and fund abstinence-only.
Although there was many of those opinions that I agreed with, I needed to focus on the logical facts that
supported sex ed. This would have been almost too easy to revert to ad hominem fallacy. However, I respect this
topic a lot and I really wanted to focus on why I supported comprehensive sex ed in our public schools, and not
use popular opinion alone to sway my audience.

Ethos:
Ethos is establishing your credibility and trustworthiness with the audience. I feel that this is something I
had a good grasp on before I started this course, but I have grown as I have developed my own speeches.
Personally, I don’t believe this is something that is too difficult to establish, but that can be based on your
audience. However, once you have established it you are more than likely to be on the winning side of an
argument. Incorporating evidence can be as easy as sharing your own personal experiences. Stating why and
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 how you even have those experiences is even better as you are attempting to gain your audiences trust and
acceptance. “Enhancing your ethos can be accomplished in two primary ways: establishing identification with
your audience and bolstering your credibility.” (268).
I believe the best way to maintain your ethos during controversial topics is to acknowledge the
controversy head one, while still being respectful and avoiding fallacy’s. An example I have in establishing my
own ethos is when I presented my speech on Cardiothoracic Pulmonary Resuscitation. Stating my own experience
as a Surgical Technician demonstrated my credibility. As I was able to continue explaining CPR in a simple and
basic manner, while physically showing my skills established secondary ethos. My sources during my speech were
also very credible since I was quoting form the American Red Cross Training manual, and not just my own
personal opinions and skill set. Using this manual as resource helped to establish trustworthiness with my
audience.

Pathos:
Pathos is the raw emotion behind it all. Pathos is what draws your audience in the first place. "We do not
pay attention to arguments unless they engender our interest, enthusiasm, fear, anger, or contempt…Reasonable
actions almost always require the integration of thought and emotion…” (p.16).” (207). My speech on how to
perform CPR is again another great example for fear pathos. I don’t believe I over did it, because performing CPR
or even thinking about it is a frightening thing. It is supposed to be a little scary. However, I believe using this to
my advantage allowed me to reach my audience in the importance of learning CPR.
Pathos is the appeal I feel the most confidence in. I especially did not have a problem when it came to
cognitive dissonance. I almost enjoyed when I was able to make my audience a little uncomfortable, because I
knew that meant that they were listening. One speech I used this in was my persuasive speech for sex ed in public
schools. The nature of the beast is automatically uncomfortable! Especially while I dumped condoms on the table
with pamphlets talking about STD’s and birth control. However, the concept of cognitive dissonance works.
“Without dissonance, there is little motivation to change attitudes or behavior.” (278).

Delivery and Visual Aids
I believe I had a good grasp on the use on nonverbal communication. Eye contact, gestures, and vocal variety
was something that came somewhat naturally to me once I was able to get past the anxiety of it all. While practicing for
my speeches I would practice at staring at different parts of the room and moving my feet a little as I talked. This helped
me somewhat during my actual speeches so that I did look like a stiff board staring at one point in the room the entire
five minutes. I do need to still practice moving my feet more and work on my “um’s” when I get lost in thought. Body
movement has always been something I struggle with when it comes to speech delivery. I almost need to practice moving
my arms and feet, and it just feels and looks so robotic and planned during the actual speech. Although bad delivery may
not break your speech, it definitely effects how your audience perceives your topic. If your delivery is so distracting that
your audience can’t even focus on your message, then obviously it is something that needs to be worked on.
For the most part, I loved all my visual aids. Whether it was simple yet powerful (Harry Potter book) to shocking
and attention seeking (CPR on a dummy and condoms thrown all over the table) I felt like they were the right choices for
the topics of those speeches. The visual aid I struggled with the most was the demonstration speech with the computer
assisted PowerPoint. Not only did I feel like I struggled with the entire speech itself, but it really threw me off when I had
a hard time using the laptop. I should have taken snipped pictures of each section of the financial excel spreadsheet,
instead of scrolling to each section and trying to find where everything was located. I kept getting lost, and that can be
frustrating when you are being timed and recorded.

Audience Assessment and Adaptation:
Connecting to your audience is the key to a successful speech. That’s why I consider this one of the hardest things
to do while giving a presentation or speech. If you can’t connect, then why are you even there? You’re just wasting you
and your audience’s time. Often when I was picking a new topic, I thought of those in my group and how they would
accept or connect with the topic I had in mind. For this course I was giving my speeches to the same individuals each
time. We grew to understand each other and establish that common ground. I believe that was first done in our
beginning speeches, when we were terrified and unknowing of how our audience was going to react. However, our first
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speeches not only gave us the opportunity to break the ice, but we were able to talk about things that meant a lot to us
and demonstrate our personal artifacts. This created what our textbook describes as substantive similarity. For me, I was
able to talk about my favorite Harry Potter book and why I loved it so much. Then I was able to listen to others talk about
Disneyland (which I am also a personal fan of) and family pictures. I definitely thought when I picked a Harry Potter book
to be my personal artifact, that I would get sideway eye glances and looks that stated “Yeah… you’re definitely a
millennial...”. However, the response I received in return was quite opposite. I received positive reinforcement and
agreeing opinions of Harry Potter. Not only did this allow me to establish a connection and common ground with my
audience, but it helped me see who my audience was and adapt my speeches to them in the future. This helped me
realize how important it is to have the substantive similarity with your audience. Whether it is naturally there, or
something that needs to develop during your presentation, it is key to how successful everything will go during your
speech.
From a transactional stand point, it is a different experience when you are in a group that needs to complete
speeches for a school course. We are all there for one purpose, and each of us agrees on getting that purpose accomplish
as smoothly and quickly as possible. However, it was still important for me and others in that group to make sure that
our speeches were still transactional, and we were able to connect with the topic each of us were sharing. For me it was
important to catch my audience’s attention with an important question or bold statement right from the very beginning.
Understanding that I’m not only a speaker, but a receiver, I would look to see whose attention I had caught and try to
speak to them personally.
When I was preparing my sex ed persuasive speech a concept that continued to cross my mind was audience
appropriate: suitability for your listeners. I wasn’t sure if this was an appropriate topic to choose for this type of setting,
and how everything was going to be accepted. I also wasn’t sure if it would be overused or encourage “adolescent
silliness”. However, after more studying and realizing that I did have a general purpose in my persuasive speech to “…
inform, describe, explain, demonstrate, persuade...”(58). The occasion and purpose of my speech made it appropriate to
talk about comprehensive sex ed if it was done in an appropriate and respectful manner. Also, if we can’t talk about sex
ed during a persuasive speech for a college course, then, when can you?

Speech Anxiety Management
The strategy that helped me the through most of my speeches was Using Positive Imagining: Visualizing Success.
I get stressed easily and I am always trying to demand perfection of myself. Being able to visualize the end result of a
speech helped me to push forward every time I was overwhelmed or wanted to give up. Being an introvert comes with it
challenges and public speeches is definitely one of them. I literally had to fake it and image I was an extroverted person
that had success in giving speeches. The strategy that helped me the least was probably Use Coping Statements: Rational
Reappraisal. Even when I was well prepared and rehearsed, I still felt like it wasn’t enough sometimes. So mentally telling
myself that I was prepared wasn’t nearly as successful as just visualizing my success.
There are many times at work when I need to be prepared to speak alone, and sometimes in front of a lot of
people. Depending on what I’m talking about or presenting, this can be super intimidating. I’m hoping that with the
speaking strategies I have learned during this course, that my skills and anxiety will show improvement overtime. I’ll
definitely need more practice, especially if I’m to grow in my career.

Lessons Learned:
I believe one of the most important things I can take from this course is how to successfully conclude a speech. I
know I really struggled with that beforehand, and just understanding what is expected and needed as help me a lot. I
loved referring to the introduction: bookending your speech. I feel like it takes all the awkwardness of finishing your
speech and wrapping things up. Also, I’ve learned to make a memorable finish and not sizzling out at the very end. “You
begin your speech with an attention strategy, and you should end your speech in a similar fashion.” (125). I believe that
as I continue in my career and communications degree, the concepts I have learned hear will greatly assist me. I plan on
continuing to personally reference this textbook as needed for upcoming presentations at work.
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Works Cited:
- Rothwell, J. D. (2017). Practically speaking. New York: Oxford University Press.