College Writing Is Hard: Insights And Tips For Demystifying Academic Speech Analysis

On Monday, February 26th at 6:00 p.m. three speakers from the writing center at Ball State university, Rory Lee, Kelsie Walker and Morgan Gross presented a webinar speech entitled “Why College Writing is Hard: Insights and Tips for Demystifying Academic Writing”. This webinar lasted for an hour and was recorded in room 104 in Bracken Library but could be watched online. Overall the speech was enlightening because of the topic and information but the technical elements involved in public speaking could use work.
The speakers did not outwardly state what the desired response from the audience was, but it can be inferred that the response was meant to have the audience learn how to write better academically and to not be intimidated by academic
These forms of support were not as effective, by themselves and out of context, as the speakers describing certain situations they have encountered although they were slightly effective to make certain points. In context the speakers make good choices with these forms of support, using the quote from David Bartholomae to help define academic writing and then explaining and adding onto it and using the examples of academic writing to then explain that different academic fields have different requirements of the academic writing (Q5). The use of language of the speakers helps to reflect the what they understand of the audience and the topic. More informal language is used and directed to the audience as “you”. This is beneficial to the speech as more educated language about a topic that the audience is expected to already not be very familiar with would not be a great idea on the part of the speakers. When jargon specific to the writing field is presented it is explained and the rest of the speech is presented using language that it is assumed the average undergraduate college student can understand (Q10). The use of voice is conversational, not overexaggerated or monotone, it is effective in that it shows that the speakers know and care for their topic. When introducing the second main point Morgan Gross comments that she kind of chuckles because the point is more individualistic and dependent upon the individuals in the position, showing that she interacts with the subject enough on a daily basis to have an understanding. Rory Lee is also energetic when introducing the third main point, his voice heightening in volume and pitch momentarily. Voice in the speech is effective as the speakers do not sound condescending, fake, or disinterested. However, there are some vocal issues, mostly in the form of vocal fillers like “so”, “um…”, and “right?”.