In this activity, you'll answer a series of questions analyzing a speech by either John F. Kennedy or Barack Obama. You'll use the same analysis skills you normally would in an essay, but you'll compose short answers instead of a longer piece of writing. Analyzing speeches is a little different from analyzing textual works because you get to consider how the speaker's body language, tone of voice, timing, and other strategies affect the overall impact. This writing assignment will focus on the following skills:
Identifying a speech's main point
Analyzing rhetorical appeals and use of evidence
Assessing whether a speech's reasoning is valid
Write a short answer for each question.
1. What is the speaker's point of view or perspective? What is he trying to convince his audience to believe? What does he want them to do? How do you know?

2. How does the speaker use evidence to support his position? Why do you think he chose this evidence?

3. What rhetorical techniques does the speaker use, such as appeals to emotion, logic and common sense, or authority and moral character? What about nonverbal communication, such as gestures, eye contact, or facial expressions? What are some examples of these rhetorical techniques?

4 . What are some of the argument's weaknesses? Do these weaknesses involve logical fallacies, misuse of evidence, lack of evidence, poor consideration of the needs of the audience, or something else? What are some examples?

5. Based on your analysis of the main point, evidence, rhetorical appeals, and weaknesses of the speech, write a paragraph offering your balanced assessment of the speech as a whole.