Oral History Presentation

PURPOSE

The best speakers are storytellers. So for this presentation you will be telling us the story about your family or community. The purpose of this assignment is to give you practice preparing a speech outline, incorporating original interview research into your outline, and finally presenting your talk. Choose a topic as described below and develop it into a speech using clear speech structure including an introduction, a body, and a brief conclusion. This speech will also provide you with additional feedback from me to help you prepare for later speeches.

What is an oral history? It's a specific person's story about a life event or personal experience. The video below provides more information:

The Oral History Centre: What is Oral History? (Links to an external site.)

ORAL HISTORY ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

Select from one of the following topics. If you have something in mind beyond what's listed below, talk to me.

• Interview a family member about a specific part of your family history. Family history might cover how your family came to the United States, a family member's involvement in a military conflict, or a family member's participation in a historical event such as the civil rights movement. (These are just examples - you may use any family history story that's interesting to you!)

• Interview someone from your community. This should relate to something that was culturally significant to your community such as a historical event, a natural disaster, or even a famous person coming to town.

• Explore the roots of a family story. Maybe there's a story from your family you've heard a million times. Explore it more deeply and try to interview several people involved in the story. Hear the various perspectives and compare them.

• Learn more about a favorite family recipe. Find out where it came from and explore the people who make it, and the occasions where it's served. What is its significance to your family?

Even if you have a good story to tell, I want this speech to be based off of your interview with someone else. THEIR PERSPECTIVE SHOULD BE EVIDENT IN YOUR SPEECH! Below are some tips for interviewing:

• Schedule the interview. Don't spring it on a the subject even if they're a family member. Tell the person in advance what you're doing, and the topic you'd like to interview them about. That will give your interview subject time to reflect on the topic before the interview, and provide you with better answers.

• Prepare ahead of time. Think through your questions ahead of time, and write them down. Consider recording your interview. Most phones have a record function on them you can use. If you're having to conduct your interview via phone, there are free apps you can use to record the call. Be sure to ask permission before recording the interview.

• Listen carefully. Focus. Don't be thinking about your next question instead of paying careful attention to the person you're interviewing. Take brief notes, but it's better to record the conversation so you can focus on what the person is saying.

• Use follow-up questions. You may need to ask the person to elaborate on something or explain themselves in further detail. Don't be intimidated to admit that you don't understand. At the conclusion of the interview, ask the person if it would be ok to follow-up with them if necessary. As you start to synthesize your interview material into a speech you may find that you have additional questions which could be followed-up on with a quick phone call or email. 

• Give yourself plenty of time. Don't wait until the last minute. You'll need time to organize your speech post-interview, and possibly to get back to the person with follow-up questions. Start on this project ASAP!

Your speech will be evaluated using the following criteria:

1. Time: Aim for approximately 4-6 minutes in length. Practice out loud ahead of time. This is the only way you will know if your speech is long enough or too long.
    

2. Organization: Your speech needs to have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction should pull your audience into your topic, establish your ethos on this topic, and preview your subject. See the material in Chapter 10 on introduction and attention getters. Your ethos for this talk will be your experience with the topic, or your credibility coming from your research -- namely the interview you did. So mention that you conducted an interview with your grandma (or whoever) in the introduction, and that will satisfy the ethos. For the preview you'll want to have a thesis statement.  (e.g., "For my oral history presentation I will explain why green grape pie is the quintessential Texas pie, why it's significant to my family, and some of the basics required to make it." --- Based on this, I know the speech to come will 1) anchor green grape pie as a "Texas thing,"  2) show how it's important for my family, and  3) explain how it's made.) 
   
   The body of your speech will cover the topic thoroughly including three source citations, one of which is your interview source which you hopefully cited in the introduction. (See #3 below on Research.) 
   
   The conclusion should re-emphasize the significance of your topic, and bring your speech to a definitive close.  
    

3. Research: For this assignment you need to research a topic through your interview, and two additional outside sources. Choose outside sources that enrich your topic or provide additional background information. To orally cite a formal source you can say something like, "Mark Kurlansky's 1997 book Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, discusses the fierce competition between the Spanish and English for control of the best fishing waters."  Your interview source citation should say something like, "When I talked to my Aunt Lucy about the origin of the dumpling dish, she told me that...." or "For this presentation I interviewed my aunt, Lucille Schroedinger, who shared with me her memory about German dumplings." As a reminder, here's the video I posted previously about how to orally cite a source. Orally Citing a Source in a Speech (Links to an external site.)
    

4. Audience: Rule #1 in public speaking is KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! Many of you may choose to submit a video presentation in front of your own audience (at least 4 required). While you may be presenting to your family or friends, pretend that you are presenting to me and other Galveston College students. We won't know that "Lucy" is your aunt unless you tell us. Make sure you provide enough context that those of us who don't know you well can understand your story.
   
   Consider relevant demographics, psychographics, and situational circumstances.  Prepare a paragraph or two telling me how you’ve adapted your speech to your audience.  Briefly describe your audience to me, then tell me what modifications or considerations were important in tailoring your speech to this group.
    

5. Works Cited: In addition to your interview source, you need two additional sources of information for your presentation. Include a bibliography of sources used. DO NOT JUST TURN IN A SHEET LISTING WEB SITES! You need to format your sources into either APA or MLA style. (See http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/ for examples of proper APA/MLA citations.) 
    

6. Delivery: Do not read your speech verbatim from your notes. Your speaking notes should be in outline format, containing only a brief outline of the speech with terms and phrases to cue your memory. This will also help you maintain more eye contact with your audience. Your best delivery is conversational. Remember that you are aiming for a relaxed, conversational tone and you can’t achieve this if you read a speech. Students who read their speeches verbatim will be asked to redo the presentation, and their revised speech will be graded as late.
    

7. Outline: Please prepare a typed speaking outline to turn in with your speech (see Chapter 9 for tips on preparing an outline). DO NOT WRITE YOUR OUTLINE IN PARAGRAPH FORMAT. Use full sentences sparingly, and keep it to key words and phrases or you will lose points. Include your source citations in your outline so that you don't forget to say them, and so I'll see (as well as hear) that they're there.
    

8. Visual Aids: Visual aids are not required for this presentation.  However, you may use visual aids, especially if you feel that they will enhance your informative topic, or make it easier for your audience to understand.  If you use pictures or documents, I recommend that you scan them and project them on the computer or overhead.  This will ensure that they are large enough to be seen clearly by your audience.  Passing objects through the audience is not recommended.

GRADING

This speech is worth 150 points. Students will be evaluated on the length of their speech delivery (4-6 minute target), the appropriateness of the speech format (a brief introduction, well-developed body, brief conclusion), appropriateness of speech content (concrete with sufficient supporting detail, evidence of research, and clear personal significance), evidence of their research (i.e., state who you interviewed in your speech and include two additional outside citations), outline submission, works cited page, and delivery. The breakdown of points and specifics are available under this assignment rubric.

Failure to perform your speech will result in the grade of a 0 for that assignment. Let me emphasize that it is very hard to pass this class with a 0 on a major assignment. Presentations may be accepted late on a case by case basis, but late speeches will lose points. If unforeseen circumstances prevent you from giving me advance notice, you must provide documentation. Don’t save your presentation taping for the last minute! You never know when you might get sick and lose your voice, or have equipment problems – so give yourself plenty of time to put together your speech and/or recording.