Communication Studies (CMST): Public Speaking

Speeches Repositories

African American History: Major Speeches: The complete text of nearly 300 major speeches by African Americans, from 1789 to today.

American Rhetoric: Includes full text, audio, and video versions of public speeches, movies, songs, and more.
Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World: This site preserves and provides access to speeches by "influential contemporary women" from around the world. Browse for speeches by speakers' name or by year and see a list of the "Top 100 American Speeches of the20th century"

Representative Speeches
Call Number: PS668 .R4 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)
A collected series of US speeches from 2000-2013, organized by topics such as gun control, Medicare, and the War on Terror. Speakers range from Congressional representatives to everyday Americans, speaking their case to inform & persuade.
Earlier years available from other libraries.
In Our Own Words
Call Number: PS661 .I53 2000 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)
A collection of American oratory: a record of twentieth-century America captured in the words that inspired and infuriated, electrified and galvanized its people.
Say It Plain
Call Number: PS663.N4 S39 2005 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)
A century of riveting public speeches by leading African American orators. Includes select audio recordings on accompanying CD.

Speech Resources Online

Rhetorical Situations
Maintained by the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), this guide breaks down five fundamental considerations for every sound speech. Great for writing your own speech or analyzing existing speeches

Silva Rhetoricae - The Forest of Rhetoric
Maintained by Bringham Young university, this guide provides definitions, use-cases, and connections between an exhaustive range of rhetorical terms and concepts

Rhetoric
Written by Aristotle and translated by W. Rhys Roberts, this is an online, searchable version of the foundational text of rhetoric in the Western tradition

Rhetoric Society of America - Scholarly Resources
This page, assembled by a national scholarly organization, lists resources for scholarly study of rhetoric & public speaking

Books on Public Speaking

Public Speaking
Call Number: PN4129.15 .B43 2018 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)
Talk Like TED
Call Number: HF5718.22 .G353 2015 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)
The Art of Public Speaking
Call Number: PN4129.15 .L83 2012 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)
Act Natural: How to Speak to Any Audience
Call Number: PN4129.15 .H68 2003 (UWB/CC Library 3rd Floor Stacks)

Search Tip: For more books on public speaking, search for the phrase "public speaking" in UW Libraries Search.