This brief, skills-oriented and highly interactive introduction to public speaking emphasizes the latest research methods, as well as critical thinking and listening skills.
This popular public speaking text is a concise, yet comprehensive exploration of the basic principles of public speaking, focusing on the essentials that a beginning student needs to know to prepare and deliver a speech. A clear link between theory and practice, as well as numerous critical thinking questions and scenarios, helps students develop the skills they need to become more critical public speakers and listeners. Briefer than many mainstream public speaking texts, The Essential Elements of Public Speaking helps students master key skills as quickly and efficiently as possible.
A new, contemporary design and streamlined pedagogy in this edition enhance the straightforward explanation of basic public speaking principles and allows students to find essential information more easily.
Features
Practical connection between theory, research and skills: The solid theoretical foundation is consistently applied to everyday situations through relevant examples, speech excerpts, thought-provoking questions and boxed features.
Emphasis on the essentials of the public speaking process: Straightforward, concise explanations of basic principles focus students quickly and effectively on the essential components of preparing and delivering a speech.
Brief Chapter 2 overview of the steps in the public speaking process: The second chapter, “Preparing and Presenting a Speech (in Brief),” presents 10 steps to prepare and deliver a speech, enabling students to start giving a speech early in the course, such as a speech of introduction. Subsequent chapters elaborate on these steps, helping students to refine the process and develop effective public speaking skills.
Numerous pedagogical aids: Chapter-opening objectives, annotated sample speeches, outlines and excerpts, boldface key terms, self-assessment tests, chapter summaries, exercises, and thought-provoking questions and scenarios help students review and retain important chapter concepts.
Comprehensive: Despite its concise, briefer length, the book covers the full range of topics in public speaking, giving students a manageable and complete introduction to preparing, researching and delivering a speech.
Strong technology advantage: Numerous in-text references to web sites and electronic resources, as well as the up-to-date Research Link boxes, provide students with the latest information on selecting a topic, gathering appropriate support materials and doing online research.
Research Links: Research Link boxes (14 in all), presented in progression from general research principles in early chapters to more specialized ones in later chapters, introduce the research process in small, manageable doses rather than one dense, potentially overwhelming chapter. Each Research Link box does end with a note identifying the next Link and in which chapter to find it to facilitate reading the Links as one entire chapter, if preferred.
Emphasis on Culture: Cultural insights are integrated into each chapter, offering students an understanding of the influence of culture in public speaking (for example: analyzing different audiences, giving and responding to public criticism) and the skills they need to develop to succeed in a global community.
Emphasis on Ethics: “A Case of Ethics” box in each chapter describes a situation which raises ethical issues, and asks students to think about and respond, promoting awareness of ethical considerations in public speaking and how to become an ethically responsible communicator.
Communication competence: Thirteen self-tests, called “Test Yourself” are interspersed throughout the text to allow students to assess their own communication skills and determine how to improve those skills.
New To This Edition
New streamlined design and pedagogy: New, contemporary design makes it easier to read and find essential information, while streamlined pedagogy highlights and reinforces essential concepts and themes.
Stronger introduction and overview of the public speaking process: In an effort to focus on essentials, key changes have been made in content coverage, including breaking Chapter 1 into two chapters. Chapter 1 now focuses on an introduction to public speaking principles and how to manage communication apprehension, with Chapter 2 now entirely devoted to a presentation of the ten steps in preparing and delivering a speech. This reorganization gives students a clear overview of the essential elements of public speaking and a strong foundation upon which to build with subsequent chapters.
Streamlined small group coverage: In keeping with the book’s emphasis on essentials, the chapter on “Speaking in Small Groups” has been eliminated and the material most essential to public speaking, “Presenting the Group’s Thinking” has been moved to Ch 12, “Speaking on Special Occasions.” For those who want to cover small group communication as a unit in the public speaking course, two chapters from the 6th edition of DeVito’s Essentials of Human Communication (2008) are available online at www.myspeechlab.com (access code required).
New and Updated Research Links: The Research Links have been thoroughly updated with the latest online resource information. They have also been consolidated from 22 to 14, allowing students to focus on essential research techniques. Careful attention has been paid in this edition to the placement of these Research Links so the student can move from general research principles in the earlier chapters to more specialized ones in later chapters.
Integration of Critical Thinking and Listening: Critical thinking and listening skills have been made an integral part of the new edition by moving this material from boxes into the text itself.
Elimination of Marginalia: New streamlined design eliminates clutter from the margins, making it easier to find essential information, such as the former “Using Technology” notes, many of which have been integrated into the text itself, and the former “Developing Strategies,” which have been grouped together as a new “What Do You Say?” feature in the end-of-chapter exercises.
New Public Speaking Sample Assistant boxes: Numerous new outlines, speeches and speech excerpts, including a new student informative speech on social entrepreneurship (Ch. 8) and a new student persuasive speech on false confessions (Ch. 11), now appear in “Sample Assistant” boxes within the chapters rather than at the end, providing models of effective public speeches.
Updated and revised sections throughout: New material includes new consideration of both trait and state communication apprehension, a new self-test on listening, additional material on empathy, a totally-revised discussion of selecting a topic as well as distinctions between purpose and thesis statements, a new section on polling websites, a new PowerPoint speech, new preparation and delivery outlines, and a new section on cultural sensitivity as a principle of persuasion.
Table of Contents
Detailed Contents
Specialized Contents
Welcome to The Essential Elements of Public Speaking
1. Introducing Public Speaking
2. Preparing and Presenting a Public Speech (In Brief)
This brief, skills-focused, and highly interactive presentation of public speaking emphasizes the newest research methods and critical listening and thinking.
The Essential Elements of Public Speaking is a concise exploration of the ins and outs of public speaking and makes a clear link between theory and practice–all in only twelve chapters.
This brief and highly interactive introduction to public speaking uses a ten-step approach to teaching the skills of informative, persuasive, and special occasion speaking.
This popular public speaking text is a concise, yet comprehensive exploration of the basic principles of public speaking, focusing on the essentials that a beginning student needs to know to prepare and deliver a speech. Research methods, critical thinking, and ethics are all emphasized and presented in unique ways. Briefer than many mainstream public speaking texts, The Essential Elements of Public Speaking helps students master key skills as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The text is built around the importance and usefulness of approaching complex tasks in an easily-managed series of ten steps. Photographs of steps and quotations about the step process open each chapter. Streamlined pedagogy in this edition enhances the straightforward explanation of basic public speaking principles and allows students to find essential information more easily.
Practical connection between theory, research and skills: The solid theoretical foundation is consistently applied to everyday situations through relevant examples, speech excerpts, thought-provoking questions and boxed features.
Emphasis on the essentials of the public speaking process: Straightforward, concise explanations of basic principles focus students quickly and effectively on the essential components of preparing and delivering a speech.
Brief Chapter 2 overview of the steps in the public speaking process: The second chapter, “Preparing and Presenting a Speech (in Brief),” presents 10 steps to prepare and deliver a speech, enabling readers to start giving a speech early in the course, such as a speech of introduction. Subsequent chapters elaborate on these steps, helping readers to refine the process and develop effective public speaking skills.
Numerous pedagogical aids: Chapter-opening objectives, annotated sample speeches, outlines and excerpts, boldface key terms, self-assessment tests, chapter summaries, exercises, and thought-provoking questions and scenarios help readers review and retain important chapter concepts.
Comprehensive: Despite its concise, briefer length, the book covers the full range of topics in public speaking, giving readers a manageable and complete introduction to preparing, researching and delivering a speech.
Strong technology advantage: Numerous in-text references to web sites and electronic resources, as well as the up-to-date Research Link boxes, provide readers with the latest information on selecting a topic, gathering appropriate support materials and doing online research.
Research Links: Research Link boxes (14 in all), presented in progression from general research principles in early chapters to more specialized ones in later chapters, introduce the research process in small, manageable doses rather than one dense, potentially overwhelming chapter. Each Research Link box does end with a note identifying the next Link and in which chapter to find it to facilitate reading the Links as one entire chapter, if preferred.
Emphasis on Culture: Cultural insights are integrated into each chapter, offering readers an understanding of the influence of culture in public speaking (for example: analyzing different audiences, giving and responding to public criticism) and the skills they need to develop to succeed in a global community.
Emphasis on Ethics: “A Case of Ethics” box in each chapter describes a situation which raises ethical issues, and asks readers to think about and respond, promoting awareness of ethical considerations in public speaking and how to become an ethically responsible communicator.
Communication competence: Thirteen self-tests, called “Test Yourself” are interspersed throughout the book to allow readers to assess their own communication skills and determine how to improve those skills.
Instructor's Classroom Kit (pdf) (1.3MB) Teaching supplement to parent text, with test items. Contains Instructor's Manual, Test Bank, and PowerPoint Handouts for Chapters 1-12.
Instructor's Classroom Kit (pdf) (1.3MB) Teaching supplement to parent text, with test items. Contains Instructor's Manual, Test Bank, and PowerPoint Handouts for Chapters 1-12.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. Note: The questions must be uploaded into your Blackboard or CourseCompass course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. Note: The questions must be uploaded into your Blackboard or CourseCompass course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. Note: The questions must be uploaded into your Blackboard or CourseCompass course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. Note: The questions must be uploaded into your Blackboard or CourseCompass course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. The questions must be uploaded to the server hosting the WebCT course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. The questions must be uploaded to the server hosting the WebCT course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. The questions must be uploaded to the server hosting the WebCT course as a .zip file.
Link Text for Web Catalog Display (zip) (0.1MB) A proprietary .zip file that includes questions found in the Electronic Testbank. The questions must be uploaded to the server hosting the WebCT course as a .zip file.
Please note:
This testbank file must be used in conjunction with Pearson's TestGen application. Go to the TestGen website to download software, upgrade, and access "getting started" TestGen resources.
Please note:
This testbank file must be used in conjunction with Pearson's TestGen application. Go to the TestGen website to download software, upgrade, and access "getting started" TestGen resources.
