LibGuides: ACRL/EBSS Library Resources for Communication Studies (LRCS): Public Speaking

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This guide will help students to learn about formal spoken communication through speech reading and rhetorical analysis.

For recommended databases in communication please see the Starting Points page in the left menu.

These pages are produced by the Electronic Resources in Communication Studies Committee of EBSS. Please contact the committee chair if you are interested in contributing or editing.

Current Page Editor: Alyssa Wright

Suggested Subject Keywords

Please consult the Library of Congress subject headings for more ideas.

Encyclopedias and Handbooks

American Voices by Bernard K. Duffy (Editor); Richard W. Leeman (Editor) Contemporary public speaking remains an important part of our national life and a substantial force in shaping current events. Many of America's most important moments and issues, such as wars, scandals, election campaigns, September 11, 2001, have been defined by oratory. Here, over 50 essays cover a substantial and interesting group of major American social, political, economic, and cultural figures from the 1960s to the present. Each entry explains the biographical forces that shaped a speaker and his or her rhetorical approach, focuses mainly on a discussion of the orator's major speeches within the context of historical events, and concludes with an appraisal of the speaker and his or her contribution to American political and social life. All entries incorporate chronologies of major speeches, bibliographies including primary sources, biographies, and critical studies and archival collections or Web sites appropriate for student research. Entries include high profile individuals such as: John D. Ashcroft, Elizabeth Dole, Jerry Falwell, Anita Hill, Ralph Nader, Ronald Reagan, Janet Reno, Gloria Steinem, Malcolm X; and many others. Excerpts of major speeches and sidebars complement the text. Ideal for researchers and students in public speaking classes, American history classes, American politics classes, contemporary public address classes, and rhetorical theory/criticism classes.
Publication Date: 2005
Encyclopedia of Rhetoric by Thomas O. Sloane (Editor) The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is a comprehensive survey of the latest research--as well as the foundational teachings--in this broad field. Featuring 150 original, signed articles by leading scholars from many different fields of study it brings together knowledge from classics, philosophy,literature, literary theory, cultural studies, speech and communications.The Encyclopedia surveys basic concepts (speaker, style and audience); elements; genres; terms (fallacies, figures of speech); and the rhetoric of non-Western cultures and cultural movements. It covers rhetoric as the art of proof and persuasion; as the language of public speech andcommunication; and as a theoretical approach and critical tool used in the study of literature, art, and culture at large, including new forms of communication such as the internet.The Encyclopedia is the most wide ranging reference work of its kind, combining theory, history, and practice, with a special emphasis on public speaking, performance and communication. Cross-references, bibliographies after each article, and synoptic and topical indexes further enhance the work.Written for students, teachers, scholars and writers the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is the definitive reference work on this powerful discipline.
Publication Date: 2010
The Will of a People by Richard W. Leeman (Editor); Bernard K. Duffy (Editor) Drawing upon nearly two hundred years of recorded African American oratory, The Will of a People: A Critical Anthology of Great African American Speeches, edited by Richard W. Leeman and Bernard K. Duffy, brings together in one unique volume some of this tradition's most noteworthy speeches, each paired with an astute introduction designed to highlight its most significant elements. Arranged chronologically, from Maria Miller Stewart's 1832 speech "Why Sit Ye Here and Die?" to President Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address, these orations are tied to many of the key themes and events of American history, as well as the many issues and developments in American race relations. These themes, events, and issues include the changing roles of women, Native American relations, American "manifest destiny," abolitionism, the industrial revolution, Jim Crow, lynching, World War I and American self-determination, the rise of the New Deal and government social programs, the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation, the Vietnam War, Nixon and Watergate, gay and lesbian rights, immigration, and the rise of a mediated culture. Leeman and Duffy have carefully selected the most eloquent and relevant speeches by African Americans, including those by Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Booker T. Washington, Mary Church Terrell, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Barbara Jordan, Jesse Jackson, and Marian Wright Edelman, many of which have never received significant scholarly attention. The Will of a People is the first book to pair the full texts of the most important African American orations with substantial introductory essays intended to guide the reader's understanding of the speaker, the speech, its rhetorical interpretation, and the historical context in which it occurred. Broadly representative of the African American experience, as well as what it means to be American, this valuable collection will serve as an essential guide to the African American oratory tradition.
Publication Date: 2012

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Exploring Public Speaking
By Tucker, B., & Barton, K., Dalton State College, Dalton, GA, 2016. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike License.
Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking
University of Minnesota Publishing, 2016. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license.
Using Your Speech Power
By Steven Ginley, Morton College, Cicero, IL. 2018. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

ACRL/EBSS Library Resources for Communication Studies (LRCS)

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Suggested Subject Keywords

Encyclopedias and Handbooks

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Speech Archives

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