Week 7 — Readings & Resources

Your primary reading is Chapter 7 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 76–87 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (17–21 min total)

• Language: Meanings & Difference between Oral & Written Styles — Patricia Jenkinson
• Familiar terms — Plain Language Guide
• Communicating With and About People with Disabilities — CDC

① Writing for a listener who hears it once

Chapter 7, Section “Oral style versus written style: write for the ear” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Oral style versus written style” · Remember: a listener cannot re-read, so build short sentences, repetition, and concrete words into the speech before you say it.

• Language: Meanings & Difference between Oral & Written Styles — Patricia Jenkinson — a video lesson on what words name and what they suggest, and on how a speech should sound different from an essay; this builds on Week 6's full-sentence preparation outline, since these are the sentences you now rewrite for the ear. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
• Speeches — The Writing Center — a handout on writing a speech for listeners, with advice on shorter sentences, repeating key terms instead of swapping synonyms, and spoken previews; read it with one paragraph of your own draft beside you and run the read-aloud test as you go. (reading, 6–8 min)

② Clear words a listener can follow

Chapter 7, Section “Clarity: cut the four killers” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Clarity and its four killers” · Remember: trade abstract words, insider terms, long sentences, and vague amounts for words a listener can picture or check.

• Familiar terms — Plain Language Guide — a federal plain-language guide's page on choosing the common word over the unusual one, with a table of stiff words and their everyday swaps; find the swap for "utilize" and compare it with the food bank memo in the chapter. (reading, 3–5 min)
• Language — COMMpadres Media — a short tutorial on using language appropriately and effectively in a speech; as you watch, sort each tip under one of the four killers of clarity, and use it while you complete the Week-7 module overview. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)

③ Devices that make words stick

Chapter 7, Section “Vividness: name the six devices on real fragments” · Session 1, Segment 3, “Vividness and the six devices” · Remember: name each device on the transcript's own words, and use one device well rather than five at once.

• Language: Making It Memorable — Patricia Jenkinson — a video lesson on memorable language, including metaphor, simile, alliteration, parallelism, and antithesis, plus a few devices this course does not name; keep the course's six in view and treat the extras as bonus vocabulary. (video, 12 min) (captions: automatic)
• President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” Speech — US National Archives — the archive's sound recording of the address to Congress; the archive titles it by its popular name, so listen for the transcript's own words, "a date which will live in infamy," and for the "Last night" sentences in a row. (video, 11 min) (captions: automatic)
• Day of Infamy Speech, the first typed draft — National Archives — the archive's teaching page on the typed first draft of the same address, with the speaker's handwritten changes; find the opening line in the draft and see what he changed in it before he spoke. (reading, 6–9 min)

④ Words that fit the room and the people in it

Chapter 7, Section “Appropriateness, connotation, and inclusive language: fit the words to the room” · Session 1, Segment 4, “Fitting your words to the room” · Remember: every word names something and suggests something, so choose words that are accurate and respectful for this audience.

• DENOTATIONS & CONNOTATIONS: English Lesson — Kevin Spaans — a quick lesson on the difference between what a word names and what it suggests, with word pairs to sort by feeling; try the practice pairs in the description before you check the answers. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)
• Why it's important to use people-first language — WTOL11 — a local news segment in which a community agency explains why it asks people to name the person before the disability; listen for one phrase you could change in your own speech. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
• Communicating With and About People with Disabilities — CDC — a public-health page on respectful wording, with phrases to use and phrases to avoid, including "person who uses a wheelchair"; note its advice to ask people how they prefer to be described. (reading, 4–6 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

• President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961) — National Archives — the archive's transcript of the address behind this week's metaphor, antithesis, and alliteration; check each Kennedy quotation from this week against it word for word, including the two-hyphen dash. (reading, 6–8 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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