Public Speaking: Strategies for Success, 9th edition

Published by Pearson (January 4, 2019) © 2020
  • David Zarefsky
  • Jeremy Engels

Title overview

For courses in Public Speaking.

Teach students sound strategies for public speaking

Public Speaking: Strategies for Success helps students become strategic public speakers. Author David Zarefsky and new co-author Jeremy Engels emphasize that public speaking is an art dictated by the dynamics of an audience. Highlighting critical thinking, the authors guide students to understand the circumstances in which they speak, to make deliberate choices about how to navigate these circumstances, and to effectively plan in order to achieve their speaking goals.

The 9th Edition offers updated coverage of diversity, ethics and social media to address the needs of today's beginning speakers.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Choose a Strategy boxes present case studies and prompt students to decide how the skills and concepts discussed can be adapted to a concrete rhetorical situation.
  • Rhetorical Workout features in each chapter offer students step-by-step guidance on how to apply public speaking concepts.
  • A Question of Ethics features highlight ethical issues students should consider as they prepare their own speeches or listen to the speeches of others.
  • Strategies for Speaking to Diverse Audiences features offer tips on how students can apply chapter content in an increasingly diverse environment.
  • Throughout the text, the authors emphasize practical applications of critical thinking skills such as active listening, topic analysis and reasoning.

New and updated features of this title

  • UPDATED: Updated and expanded discussions of evidence and supporting materials cover distinguishing fact from opinion, the ethics of using reputable sources and current public forum issues such as “fake news.”
  • UPDATED: The 9th Edition further emphasizes the ethical components of gathering and evaluating evidence, presenting sound facts and avoiding plagiarism.
  • UPDATED: Updated and expanded discussions of diverse speakers and audiences include fillers and cultural ways of speaking, inflection and accents in the multilingual public speaking classroom, and volume and diversity.
  • UPDATED: Expanded material on social media and mediated communication covers social media and political discussion, the mediated audience and social media conversations as public discourse.
  • UPDATED: A reorganized Chapter 15, Speaking with Visual Aids, incorporates coverage of technology within the discussion of preparing visual aids. New material includes guidance on using memes and running presentation aids via smartphones.
  • NEW: Student speeches in the appendix entitled “Meeting the Needs of International Students” and “Saving Our National Parks” serve as contemporary examples.

Key features

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for Revel (available for Spring 2023 classes)

Instructors, contact your sales rep to ensure you have the most recent version of the course.

  • UPDATED: Pearson is dedicated to creating bias-free content that reflects the diversity of all learners. The Digital Update offers updated language, including inclusive pronoun usage, and relevant diverse examples throughout. In addition, all assessments have been revised for better diversity and inclusion.
  • NEW: Journal prompts accompany A Question of Ethics features and Strategies for Speaking to Diverse Audiences features, encouraging students to further explore the ideas presented.

Features of Revel for the 9th Edition; published 2019

  • UPDATED: Videos provide examples of speeches, expert advice and additional information to boost mastery. Correlating video self-checks enable readers to test their understanding. New speech videos include “Eulogy for the Challenger Astronauts” by Ronald Reagan and “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Audio excerpts of dialogue allow students to hear as well as read examples of communication, increasing student comprehension and engagement.
  • Interactive figures provide hands-on, engaging visualizations to help further understanding of complex concepts.
  • Interactive checklists recap applied concepts. These include writing exercises as well as opportunities for students to assess their own speeches and assignments.

Table of contents

PART I: FOUNDATIONS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
1. Welcome to Public Speaking
2. Your First Speech
3. Presenting the Speech
4. Listening Critically

PART II: INVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPEECH
5. Analyzing Your Audience
6. Choosing a Topic and Developing a Strategy
7. Researching the Speech
8. Reasoning

PART III: ARRANGEMENT AND STYLE IN THE SPEECH
9. Organizing the Speech. The Body
10. Organizing the Speech. Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions
11. Outlining the Speech
12. Achieving Style Through Language

PART IV: USES OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
13. Informing
14. Persuading
15. Speaking with Visual Aids
16. Occasions for Public Speaking

Author bios

About our authors

David Zarefsky is Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, where he taught from 1968 through 2009 and where he continues to be professionally active. Over the years he has taught several classes related to public speaking, argumentation and debate. On 13 separate occasions he was honored by the student government for exemplary teaching. Zarefsky also served as Director of Debate (1970 to 75), Chair of the Department of Communication Studies (1975 to 83), Associate Dean of the School of Speech (1983 to 88), and Dean (1988 to 2000). Zarefsky is a past president of the National Communication Association (NCA), the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) and the Central States Communication Association (CSCA). He has twice received the NCA’s Winans-Wichelns Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address, has been named a Distinguished Scholar by both NCA and the American Forensic Association (AFA), and has received Distinguished Service Awards from NCA, RSA and AFA. He is the author, editor or coeditor of 9 books and more than 125 book chapters and articles in professional journals. Zarefsky lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Jeremy David Engels is the Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute, and an Associate Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences, at Penn State University. He has been teaching undergraduates the art of rhetoric since 2002, and he has won numerous awards for his teaching. His research investigates the history of democratic rhetoric in the United States. His most recent book, The Art of Gratitude (SUNY, 2018) describes the crucial role that emotions including gratitude play in the everyday life of healthy democratic cultures. Engels is also a certified yoga, meditation and mindfulness teacher. He lives in State College, PA, with his wife Anna Sunderland Engels, where they co-own and co-manage a yoga studio called Yoga Lab.

Loading...Loading...Loading...